Exactly one week ago, we celebrated Barbara’s birthday. It was a beautiful party. All our guests felt comfortable. But here is the most important part of it: the birthday child, too, was happy with the party! And is there anything I like better than a happy Barbara?
On the party, there were no “typical birthday activities”. But I certainly had to give a small presentation for “my” Barbara!
Here is more or less what I said:
What else could you expect today – my presentation starts with the internet. Many of my friends do not even know the term “time line” (TL). We “digital natives“, however, know that we are living in a “time line”.
If you try to look up “time line” in a dictionary, you will not really be a success. The closest is probably “Zeitlinie”. But we all know how difficult the English/German translations are. Just think of the translations for Browser (Stöberer) or Youtube (DeinSchlauch).
But the internet is not the only place where you have a “time line”. My mentor and friend Rupert Lay described life as a path through time. This path has a beginning and an end. We do not know what was before the beginning or what will come after the end.
But the path is our life. Consequently, it is basically all we have.
As we start out, we are not alone. We have a loving mother. As a general rule, a caring family will accompany us at the outset. Even that, however, is unfortunately not true for all humans.
There comes a time when we have to find and walk on our own path. We meet people and more people as we further progress on the path. Some of them will accompany us for a short time, others for a long time. Some have a huge impact on us, others are more superfluous. Some people will cross our path at regular intervals, others will soon disappear, sometimes forever.
The same was true for me. On my way, I always had many friends by my side. It was wonderful. Some of my comrades are here today to celebrate Barbara with me.
First and foremost, however, I want to remember those that are not here with us today – and I wish to send my greetings to them. They are absent for all varieties of reasons:
- Some of them cannot be here because they have left us forever. That really hurts. I can still well see some faces in my mind’s eye, celebrating with us in the past and being happy. They would certainly be here if they were still alive. As I see it, it makes sense, both now and always, to remember them.
- For some of my friends, I must say that I forgot to send them an invitation. I just could not reach them on the telephone and was too lazy to send a snail mail letter. I am truly sorry – and I hope that nobody will hold it against me. Those who I forgot, please accept my apologies.
- Others are stressed out. They have so much work, they have to prepare for an exam or have to leave for their next appointment very early tomorrow morning. With those, I also sympathize. Because I have learned how wrong it is to put imagined constraints before your own life.
But I am happy that you all, that is the people living in my time line (TL) are here today. I mean You!
And there is one particular person who accompanies me on my path in a very special and inimitable way.
Barbara – our birthday child!
Let us celebrate her in a very special way today!
Barbara and I have now known each other for 40 years, because on February, 5th, 1972, we first met. On a dreary Saturday at the discotheque in Augsburg. At the time, Barbara was just 18 years old – and I was actually already quite worn out with life.
The forty years that followed were breath-taking. It is unbelievable how many things we experienced together in all those years. For me, the good times were always the majority, and I certainly wish that you – my dear Barbara – feel similarly.
Dear Barbara, I thought long and hard about what to tell you now.
- Should I praise your virtues and point out your competence? There is certainly reason enough!
- Should I thank you for being so tolerant?
- Should I tell you how attractive I find you?
- Should I tell you how you make me feel comfortable and how much I enjoy fleeing the world with you when we ride our bikes through the world together?
- Should I tell you how happy it makes me that we managed to overcome even the dark hours – and to escape them?
These are all things I gladly thank you for. The same is true for all we achieved together. Both with respect to our social and material prosperity. For our children and the attractive potential future with a totally new life as grandparents.
But these are all not the things that really matter.
Because – you helped me to find purpose in my life. Yes, you helped me to give my life meaning.
That is what I want to thank you the most for. Please continue to do so in the future!
Now, ladies and gentlemen, please applause Barbara for her birthday, because this is the highlight of what I have to say.
That was when George Greene played three fanfares … and then I continued as follows…
Now all that is left for me to do is introduce George and his music. Today, George plays for us with his musicians. He represents those people who brought us a saving message when times were dark. In those days, this was music from a different world: Blues, Rock’n Roll, Beat, Jazz, Soul, Country …
In my book, musicians are something like warriors for peace. They console us, give us support in poor days and make us happy. Goerge is one of them. All through his life, he just played music. Because he loves music and wants to make people happy playing music.
Thus, George never became very famous. But he certainly is star material. He played with many of the truly great ones. He used to play the drums for Chuck Berry and Ray Charles. He was on stage with many famous musicians and recorded quite a few discs. For instance with our perhaps not quite so famous but no less important Isar-Indian Willy Michl: sound of thunder.
George wrote quite a few beautiful songs. Unfortunately, however, it only rarely happens that you get the opportunity to hear them “live”. In fact, it only happens when George plays them. I find that a pity.
Consequently, it is one of my numerous projects to help George with recording them in a studio. I am doing this because I am afraid it will not happen if I do not lend a helping hand.
And as always when I open a new project, I am looking for comrades in arms. Because I know that together we can move things that I cannot hope to accomplish on my own. And I will be happy if you help me.
And then we were on the dance floor – time to go for a bop… and George played and played and played…
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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