So where WERE we, when I got so unexpectedly interrupted?

Ach ja... Peter's 'fambly'. So ok, his grandparents had four girls who survived the war. I never met his mother, she was terminally ill when I first got here, and died fairly soon thereafter. I have always regretted that. She must have been very funny, and he got her sense of humour, which is sort of like mine. He had a rough time of it back then. We were just friends, he did the night shifts. And would come home mornings to find she had hemmoraged in the night, and it did a number on him.

The only fun thing I have about her was a play on words. He was visiting her in hospital, and the other woman asked Peter to close the window because she was 'Algerian' when it came to drafts. She meant allergic, of course. That's been a running joke between us for decades now. Will say, Oh, am algerisch to that. Instead of allergisch.

See? That is one of the fun things you share when you know one another a long time.

Charlotte married shortly after the war. She is graceful, elegant, and very nice. It's only been two years since I am allowed to address her in the familiar form. Her husband was Prussian, and unfortunately died a few years ago. Peter being her only nephew, she does the mother hen number, which irritates him.

Doris got REALLY messed up by her oldest sister, who sent her off to some Nazi version of the girl scouts, (BDM) and caught an illness she never really recovered from, and never spoke with her ever again, as far as I know.

Which leaves us the eldest, Hildegard. I only met her once. It was enough, believe me. She wasn't just the black sheep, she terrorised the entire family. The only Nazi in it. And she never stopped, hey. She never ratted them out, but her escapades were legendary. Like drinking champagne and telling her husband not to come back when he got sent to Stalingrad. She wanted to be a war widow. He was a POW, and she was disappointed when he finally came back, and took up his job as a gardener. I can't think of two more diverse people to ever get married.

And she never stopped, hey. She was over seventy, flew to New Yawk.... wearing her SS leather coat without the insignia, and decided to go out searching for people who were on her 'agenda'. This is so not making anything up, by the way. The entire family was scandalised at the time.

So what did she DO? She went to Harlem, ALONE, AT NIGHT. And hooked up with this African American activist by the name of Robbie... and he was the apple of her eye. Am pretty sure she went back a couple of times after that, and I think the last time was in Florida, and she hooked up with him, whipped his group into shape with uniforms and everything. And there was something about riding those propellor boats in the Everglades, but I don't think they killed anyone. I hope...

Her sisters were on their fainting couches reaching for the smelling salts.

Yup, she was a piece of work, all right... She only said one sentence to me ever, but it was a doozy. She and Charlotte were waiting on Peter in the ho-tel lobby to celebrate his fiftieth 'birfday', and the couches there were very low. He came down and she asked me, 'Do you have CRANES to get me out of this thing?' Which was when I realised no one had been exaggerating.

Her granddaughter married a CIA agent. That didn't last. Last I heard, she is an attorney in Florida, and I just don't WANT to know, ok?

Charlotte had two daughters, and they are coming to Graz. Barbara, the oldest, who once cornered me in the reception area, and sort of implied I was a gold-digger.... at a time neither of us had two Schillings to rub together, and Renate, who is very quiet and very cool. Over the deacades, we have learned to play nice. Renate bears a striking resemblance to Jill Clayburgh, by the way... It's uncanny.

Charlotte has eyes similar to Peter's, the only one of 'da girls' who do. But with her, there is a slant to them, and they are very green. I told her that recently, and she got all flustered, it was just a compliment.... and not flattery.

So you see? Life can be fun, and irritating, and you live it as fully as you can....

And OH, yes, another classic: Hildegard was going ON about Hitler. And his grandmother said, 'YOUR Hitler made me miss the golden age of the MGM MUSICALS!' That one has to go down in history. She nearly got in a cat-fight at the market over who was better, Marika Rökk, or Ginger Rogers. Which was dangerous.

So... that ends my two-parter on Peter's family, relationships, and how you absorb 'things you never needed to know.'

But that is what a solid relationship brings with it. Have been trying to impart some of the fun things that occurred over the past (nearly) four decades, and give you a smile or two.

And on the other hand, Peter knows an awful lot about my family as well. I used to think, 'hokay... top this.' That is sort of 'guy stuff'. Always a bit of competition, but a good one means sharing. Being held, feeling 'safe'. And returning the favour when your signifcant other isn't on top of his/her game.

Some of you have been here, and you saw me at my worst, and you saw me 'in-love', which can make you so blind you don't know what hit you. Some of you have seen me so angry, and at times self-destructive I can feel ashamed.

I can pass it off, and say 'well, that comes from my bio-mom's genes', and part of it would be true.... But in the end, it was passion. No matter what I have done, it was straight from the heart, and I don't regret it.

So now you know a piece of my life I didn't share.