Welcome to my inspiration page. This is an ongoing passion project of mine sharing my lifetime collection of favorite quotes, positive affirmations and stories. Some of them are words of wisdom people have offered to me throughout my life and some are from accomplished public figures. Some are even lyrics in a song that stuck with me and inspired me in some way. Come visit from time to time
This beautiful lady is my grandma, Manya. I grew up with the heroic stories of her Auschwitz prison camp survival and her triumphant return to herself after losing truly everything a person could lose. Even not knowing if her husband and children were still alive, she was a light and a protector to the women she survived camp with, sneaking food to them, singing to them and keeping hope alive. She was punished for this by having to hold a chair over her head for hours barefoot in the snow and beaten with a club until her front teeth were knocked out, but it didn't stop her.
She weighed 80 lbs. when she was liberated. She lost her parents, 8 brothers and sisters, her friends and her younger son (my dad) was starving almost to death in the orphanage that was hiding him from age 2 ½-5. He did not recognize her when they reunited. 10 years later she became a US citizen, learned English (her 5th language) and built a wonderful life for the 2nd time. Esther Perel, a world renown therapist, who was raised in a village of survivors noticed that surviving this level of trauma had 1 of 2 effects on people. It either caused them to continue to survive, or it caused them to fully live. This is how I remember her. Laughing and singing into a glass of wine, closing her eyes and pausing to hear the sound of a flowing stream, knitting for hours to make thousands of blankets and socks for orphaned children. I always assumed it was to help heal her own heart from having her children briefly orphaned. When she was 94 years old, I took her to the greenbelt. She loved to take long walks and I wanted to show her a little waterfall I used to sit by. We were holding hands going down a steep hill when she lost grip of my hand and tumbled all the way down, landing motionless face down on the trail. By the time I got to her thinking for sure she was badly hurt or worse, she had flipped herself over, spit out the rocks and dirt in her mouth, stood up like nothing happened and said, "Well, I fell. Now I get up and we go for our walk." Thank you Grandma, for your all of your powerful lessons. Every time I have ever thought of giving up, I think of you holding the chair over your head and I keep going.
She weighed 80 lbs. when she was liberated. She lost her parents, 8 brothers and sisters, her friends and her younger son (my dad) was starving almost to death in the orphanage that was hiding him from age 2 ½-5. He did not recognize her when they reunited. 10 years later she became a US citizen, learned English (her 5th language) and built a wonderful life for the 2nd time. Esther Perel, a world renown therapist, who was raised in a village of survivors noticed that surviving this level of trauma had 1 of 2 effects on people. It either caused them to continue to survive, or it caused them to fully live. This is how I remember her. Laughing and singing into a glass of wine, closing her eyes and pausing to hear the sound of a flowing stream, knitting for hours to make thousands of blankets and socks for orphaned children. I always assumed it was to help heal her own heart from having her children briefly orphaned. When she was 94 years old, I took her to the greenbelt. She loved to take long walks and I wanted to show her a little waterfall I used to sit by. We were holding hands going down a steep hill when she lost grip of my hand and tumbled all the way down, landing motionless face down on the trail. By the time I got to her thinking for sure she was badly hurt or worse, she had flipped herself over, spit out the rocks and dirt in her mouth, stood up like nothing happened and said, "Well, I fell. Now I get up and we go for our walk." Thank you Grandma, for your all of your powerful lessons. Every time I have ever thought of giving up, I think of you holding the chair over your head and I keep going.