The Mother Project

Writing my mother's story - an interesting experience. She has told us bits and pieces over the years but it paints a very different picture when I put it all together.

I feel that I should be looking for explanations as I listen and then, write - why she is the way she is and why she feels the way she does. And I'm not doing that. I'm paying attention to the story - and I'm writing it to make it cohesive and interesting. So far so good. We're just getting to the good stuff now.

It's a shame I didn't do this with my father. But even if I could have, Willi wasn't a talker. Heidi is the talker. With any luck she'll have enough stories about my father that I'll be able to flesh out some of those details.

I remember asking my father about the war - the tiniest items were all I could ever get from him. I think it's those war years that interest me most - and, yes, we're getting there.