I just loaded 500 pictures onto Dani’s computer while she, and others with the energy and will, have been out for a late-night stroll through Dresden, which is lovely, more my speed than Berlin, less “brisk,” as today’s guide Stefan would say. More trees. More old buildings, or faux old buildings, but the effect is the same. Linda Joseph and I had hot chocolate for lunch, because she saw a sign and her high school German came back to her: World’s Best Chocolate, it said. High school language class matters, and let that be a lesson.
Last night we went to a synagogue service, after which Dani (whom I call Sempronia) remarked how surprised and moved she was that here in Germany the service was familiar and the songs the same as at home in Pittsburgh. She seemed at a loss to describe how she felt, but I recognized the emotional realization of membership, a sense of belonging; that no matter where she goes in the wide world, she is part of a community, a family, that will embrace and support her. I was a bit jealous, because that is a blessing indeed.