Susan Krieger’s Story
Dearest Bernie,
After all these shared years, I know exactly which traits I want to thank you for.
The first has to do with aspects of your droll sense of humor: Ill ask you a question and you will look me straight in the eyes assumingly in all seriousness and launch into a totally fabricated story. The first time this happened was at a museum in Japan. There was a long banner in Japanese hanging over a lovely screen and I wondered to you what it said. You cleared your throat, hesitated just a bit and began to create an explanation, pausing occasionally as if to search for just the correct word. I knew it was all b. s. but it was priceless and totally plausible.
Then there are occasions such as when we were in our lawyers office drawing up our wills and you quipped: There are no trout rising on the River Styx.
Or when you were looking at the sushi menu in the Japanese restaurant and said: I see you have dinosaur roll….is it fresh?
The second precious aspect about my life with you is the joy we feel in doing things together. You are a wonderful teacher – a gentle, patient, supportive teacher. And I love to learn. You have helped me to be a self-sufficient fisherman. When we fish together we each want the other to feel happy and successful – it is not a competition.
When we go bird-hunting, you are the hunter and I am the dog handler but we are both assessing how the day went and whether we could make it better.
Weve worked together on archery; weve repaired clocks together; we take good walks together, noticing the nature we are experiencing. And lest anyone thinks this is only about the outdoors, we annually make hamentaschen dough together, hours of blending flour and warm milk into the mixture until the consistency is just right.
And we listen to music and opera together
And we share poetry
And we love our children and grandchildren – TOGETHER.
We are truly blessed. I love you.
