Day 26, March 25.

My father was one of the liberators of a German concentration camp so it had even more special meaning to me. He was in the second wave, so the only people who were left were those too sick or too emaciated to move. He never talked about it or anything about the war, until he was interviewed for a research project by a Jewish organization about the liberation of the camps. When I heard the tape I realized how much it was seared into his memory. I had never seen or heard my dad cry until he was talking about it.

So now I’m on the road (or the tracks) again. On to another new country for me: Switzerland via Zurich.

I feel very hopeful again. It feels great to have more space between trainings, and my next two are very different: one on parenting and one on prevention.

Traveling through parts of mid-southern Germany and into Western Switzerland reminded me of Vermont; in other words, beautiful. But a very long train ride to Zurich and onto St. Gallen.

This is the first time on my trip that I feel really exhausted. But I’m here a day or two early, because I couldn’t afford to stay in Berlin anymore, so hopefully I’ll be able to chill out for a day and a half before my parenting from the heart session. Tammy Furey was so kind to let me stay with her for the extra night or two. She picked me up on the train platform and brought me home.