A happy day - for mom

Happy days are rare for us right now. Everything seems to be so hard and i often feel somebody is putting some big rocks always in our path. I feel not treated right, unfair. Things with school are hard. The fact that services here in Germany just suck (excuse me!). You have to have a prescription for every therapist and have to fight with Health insurance and doctors who is going to cover. On top you need of course stuff for your kid (like diapers, a special car seat and communication devices in our case), you want some funding to get some income relieve, because one of us will always be a care giver or you have to hire somebody for that. So life was hard on us, since we moved in, and very often you feel you can not go forward any longer. And then comes a day like today: I found out that we get

• this special car seat for Nicky, so he is finally safe
• the communication devices we waited for for so long

We also found somebody who is making its masters in special ed. and especially in TEACCH. Nicky will be her child she will study in this. That gives US the opportunity, to learn more about TEACCH, which is the learning method in Nicky's school.

She also will probably watch Nicky for a week, while i am gone with Philip to see all our friends back in the US.

And i started the day on a beautiful horse, riding through this peaceful landscape and feeling just free. The biggest luck of the world you find on the back of a horse a german saying is. It's so true, this is my therapy, who needs a shrink when the horse is the better therapist for you.

Happy "special-mothers-day" to me !

November 9th - what a date in german history

While i was watching the news yesterday it hit me that two mayor milestones in German history happened on the same day. The "Reichskristallnacht" or the Night of Broken Glass happened November 9Th-10Th in the year 1938. At that night over 200 synagogues burned and Jewish businesses and homes where destroyed. In this single night 30.000 Jews where arrested and deported to concentration camps. From this night on Jewish people had to wear the star on there clothes. This was by far the darkest night in Germany's long history. And even its been 70 years since then, people in this country know the details and they live on with that thoughts and just know how horrible this part of German history is.

On the exact day just 19 years ago, Germany had the happy day where the wall in Berlin fell. People danced on the wall, they hugged each other after being separated since 1961. When the East German government announced on November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin, crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

A little help from Mr. Flipper

Enjoy!