Fall of the Wall - Rise of a Man

Well, today is a momentous day for multiple reasons. First, this man was born:

He taught me everything I know! (If I recall correctly, I beat both my dad and my brothers in this game...the student finally beat the master!) Doesn't he have great form!?

Pretty sure I'll be hearing about posting this one!

I'm pretty sure he's not entirely sure what to do with a crazy daughter like me. But he tries his best to go along with my oddities!

I think the best decision he ever made was to marry this woman and have five wonderful children (cause if they had stopped at four I wouldn't be here!).

I love you Dad! Happy Birthday!


The other reason why today is such a big day is because it marks the 20th anniversary from when the Berlin Wall fell.

This is an actual picture of the Wall as it stands now in the East Side Gallery. It's about a mile stretch of the Wall that stands as a reminder of what Germany went through. I tried to find my other pictures that show more of the Wall and just how tall it is, but they are buried in my mission pics somewhere and I didn't have time today to dig them out.

Anyway, it's a pretty sobering thought that just a wall kept a country and people divided for so long. I am very grateful for the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. I definitely had a greater appreciation for it as I talked with people who had actually lived in East Germany for all of those years. I hope that I never take it for granted.

Well, I have more thoughts about both momentous occasions from today, but I will keep them to myself for now because I'm tired and I'm not sure that they would even make sense. Just know that I feel very deeply both about how much I love my dad, and how grateful I am that the Wall fell!

The next picture doesn't really have anything to do with the Wall. But I found it as I was trying to find my Wall pictures and I realized again just how funny it is that Chemnitz (a city south of Berlin) still has this HUGE head of Karl Marx. And by huge I mean H-U-G-E!