Ilona Cole, Story 58

The Bear for Hal

It Does not Matter What the Age or the Gender

It was during the year 2016 when my dear beloved husband Hal had Parkinson disease in the advanced stage. He fell while in the hospital, broke his hip, and had to have surgery for a hip replacement. After some days in the hospital, he then had to enter a rehabilitation place. His stay there was rather long since he had extreme difficulty walking not only because of the hip replacement but also due to his Parkinson disease. Walking was painful for him, and he was very weak. I spent my days with my Hal and some nights, when it was difficult for him to relax and go to sleep, and he wanted me to stay. During those very difficult weeks, my Hal was often talking about a bear, a big brown bear he was sure he had and questioning where the bear was?

I thought first that my Hal was thinking of my own Steiff Bear that he purchased for me as a surprise the first Christmas I was here, replacing mine I had lost during a move. My darling Hal remembered my story I was telling him in Germany. But when I mentioned the Steiff bear at home to my sweetheart, he assured me that HE had a big brown bear and why is he not here with him? I thought right then that I would find and purchase a big brown bear for my Hal and set him on the hospital bed at home, so the bear could greet my Hal when he finally gets to go home, and if my Hal would have to stay much longer, I would bring him there to the Mission Rehab to join him.

It was lunchtime, and my Hal and I were sitting by a table in the dining room at the rehabilitation place waiting for Hal

Ilona Cole, Story 55

Italian Plum Tart

A Wonderful Visit with Katja

It was a beautiful autumn in the year 1968 and my Hal and I decided to fly to Germany and visit not only my sister and family, but also some friends and especially my aunt Katja and her daughter Krimhilde. They were saddened when they heard from my sister Friedl that we had been visiting but did not come to see them. They live in the beautiful area of the Odenwald (Ode to the forest.) Katja was my mother

Ilona Cole, Story 51

The Pistols

Christies of London Auction House

Thirty some years ago it was a cherished dream for my husband Hal to browse through Christies Auction Catalogues and if there were any dueling pistols for the upcoming auction, he talked about it, but never gathered the courage to do any bidding. He would look in a special bookstore for the quarterly catalogue of Christies and sometimes also for the San Francisco auction house Butterfield & Butterfield. For Hal

Ilona Cole, Story 50

Joachim, Rainald and Ducky

“Ducky”

My sister Friedl lived in Darmstadt/Germany and had a very nice husband Georg and two adorable sons Joachim, then, during my visit and the time of this story, 6 years old, and Rainald soon to be 4 years old. It was my first visit to Germany in 1957 when I got to see the little one, Rainald. He was born the night I had left Germany and was flying to the United States to join my dear husband Hal. When I arrived at the Frankfurt/Germany Airport they, my sister and both boys were there to await me. We had a wonderful visit together it was so nice to be with my sister again. It was very devastating leaving her behind when I left Germany. After a few days of visiting and conversations we made plans to go on a picnic by our favorite lake. We stopped at the bakery and purchased good crunchy rolls had butter and cheese and also some little tomatoes, fresh strawberries and bananas, a thermos with good coffee and some lemonade for the boys. Friedl had baked a wonderful cake and we packed some of it into our basket.

We took the stroller for Rainald in case he would get tired after the walk from the end of the streetcar to the lake, but mostly for our basket. It was a sunny and beautiful day late August. We found an empty bench and made it comfortable for the four of us. On a big beach towel we unpacked our basket. The boys wanted to go down by the lake to look at the ducks. They loved ducks. After our delectable lunch, we went for a walk and let them watch all the ducks in the lake. Of course they all came out of the water thinking they would get some food.

I had noticed several times during my stay that Joachim and also Rainald would address my sister as: