Photo Album

I am not even sure where to begin. I am still
soaking it all in. I think we all are.

Since we learned of my Tante Else's death I have
been in contact with Pam, my cousin Darrell's wife.
We are both into Genealogy and are doing
research on the Brüning family together.

Darrell and Pam decided to come visit my parents.
Darrell's father, Arthur Molzan and his wife Rose
also came. Darrell is my mom's nephew.
Mom and Dad were very excited about this.

I have only met Pam once. It was right after Hurricane Hugo had destroyed their home and they
came to stay with Tante Else.
It has been 25 years since I have seen my cousin Darrell.
I have never met my Uncle Art and Rose only seen them from afar.

Arthur is my mom's ex brother in law. They have not seen each other since at least 1961. Uncle
Art had known mom since she was 14 years old, he said she was just a half pint in those days.
He did not know Mom and Dad had 3 more children. That shocked me.I thought he knew about
all of us.
Arthur was my parents sponsor to move to the USA in 1957 from Germany. I want to extend my
thanks to him for making it possible for mom and dad to move here.
Arthur was married to my Tante Else Molzan in Germany, for that story click here.

Pam and Darrell stayed at mom and dad's for 2 days. I am sure their visit was fantastic.
Mom called after they left and she was so thankful that they came. She said it was wonderful and
long over due. It was something she said she would never forget. It is all she has talked about.
It really made them happy. Seeing them that excited was wonderful.

When I arrived everyone was already there. I set down my handful of things,cake,
cameras,flowers and a gift bag. I gave everyone a big hug and extra big hug to Pam.
Everyone looked so good. I must say I was nervous on my ride there. I was still a little shaky after
an hour or so but soon settled in.
It was surreal. I was trying to soak up everything, it was almost like I was outside looking.
I even brought a notebook to take notes if needed. A camera for photos and my cam corder to
record whatever.
Mom was cooking dinner and it smelled awesome. December 4th is Dad's birthday so I got him
a cake.

Darrell and Pam brought a drawing of Oma Brüning drawn in 1946.
This is a photograph of the drawing. It is thought to be draw by a friend
of Uncle Art's, but we are not sure. It's a nice piece of history to have.

Mom broke out her photo albums and special items to show everyone.

Uncle Art brought boxes of Photos. I mean boxes.....
I asked to see what photos he had, well I got to see them.

I brought Uncle Art a gift, A scarf from Germany. He loved it. He said he has already shown it off.

We all sat around the dining room table and ate dinner. After dinner we had Dad's birthday cake,
he is 77 years young. Happy Birthday Dad!!!!!!!

Once dinner was over we sat and talked about old times, well Art,mom and dad did. Pam, Darrell,
Rose and myself listened. It is amazing the things they remember. I swear Uncle Art has a photographic
memory. Boy he can still speak German too. It was a memory I will not soon forget. Hearing them talk about
old times was nice. Seeing my mom with someone she knew her as a child was awesome.

Uncle Art photographed his entire tour of duty from World War 2. All the photos are neatly arranged in a book
and each photo is well documented. I was flipping through the pages looking at a war torn Germany when I
got to a page with a photo that read "The woman who later became my wife". It was my Tante Else. I lost it. I
couldn't see the pages through my tears. It was great to see my Aunt out having so much fun in the photos. I
really never got to see her like that. Those photos touched my heart.

Mom and Dad enjoyed seeing Uncle Arthur very much. As we would say today it was a blast from the past !

Our small reunion was huge. It was heart warming and this is what families are for.
We should never let time go by like this.
If there is one lesson I have learned from all this family stuff is that there is nothing so big that can keep a
family apart. All can be forgiven and things can be made right. Family is all we have.

I want to dedicate the roses on this page to Rose, this can't be easy hearing about your husband's ex wife
and family, you are an Angel !!
The old time photos are those taken by Uncle Art.
Here are more photos of our day ENJOY......... ~Monica~