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Wow John, great Story! I know what it's like judging a book by it's cover. When I was stationed in Berlin before the fall of the wall, a friend of mine, Ernie and I would walk to the bus stop in our Air Force uniforms every morning to go to work. We would catch a bus to the subway and the subway took us to a station right outside of Tempelhof Airport where we worked. Anyway, every morning we passed this little old lady walking her dog. We would always say "Guten Morgen" to her and she would respond in kind. What she didn't know is that I spoke fluent German, but she assumed that, like most Americans there, I only knew a few words. After a while we realized she lived in a small apartment in a huge apartment building and we noticed that she would meet us at the same point every morning. One day, I don't even remember why, I stopped and started talking to her for a couple of minutes in German. She was both surprised and elated that she had someone to converse with now in the morning. She would wait at the end of the parking area to the building I lived in and join us every morning for the walk to the bus stop. The conversations were always interesting and I wound up translating a lot for Ernie. Finally, at Christmas time Ernie and I got together and bought her a crystal bowl at the PX as a small present. She was so surprised that it almost brought her to tears. She responded by getting us both bottles of very expensive French Champaign for New Years Eve. All this led to us being invited over one Sunday to her little modest apartment. We sat, had coffee and talked a lot of small talk until she started talking about her family. With a sigh, she made the comment of how she wished her sons and their families would visit with her, but they only seemed to come around when they needed money. I was kind of appalled at the idea of anyone taking advantage of this woman who I was sure had a very modest social pension. But, then she mentioned something about how they could have helped her run her apartment building. That was when I realized that she had more than a modest income. Apartment buildings in Berlin were worth millions and the income generated by them were typically substantial. It was later we learned that she also owned an Electronics firm that contracted a lot of their work to the Military. Little did we know, this woman was actually worth millions!!! Needless to say, Ernie and I kept that knowledge to ourselves and continued to treat her as the friend she was with the respect she so longed for. We would join her at her place regularly for coffee and cakes until we had to leave Berlin in the early 90's. I have since been back there and visited her. The dog is long gone, but she remembers me well and loves it when I drop in to say hi. We always talk of the days before the wall fell and the bus stop walks we shared every morning. I haven't seen her in about 7 years now, but hope to visit her again in the next year or so. She was really a great friend and I'm happy to know her for who she is, not by the money she made. Will N99036 ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiLm.aVzvvT Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
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