As I was bringing another plate of hot vanilla cream scones to table 10 at a High Tea a few months ago, one of the ladies reached out and touched my arm and in an accent that struck me as very familiar asked when my baby was due. As we chatted, I learned that the two older women were in their 60's and from Yugoslavia but had spent much of their childhood in Austria. The younger lady was a niece of one of the sisters. Ah, Austrian I say. I was married to a man many years ago whose mother's family was from Austria. I thought I recognized the accent. As we continued to chat, more about who they were and where they had come from spilled out. The two sisters had survived WWII while the rest of their family - parents, siblings, aunts, and uncles had tragically not. I've always had a real interest in WWII history but this was a slice of history I knew nothing about. I learned that morning that thousands of Austrian Jews escaped German-occupied Austria by leaving on illegal ships bound for Israel. They were put on river boats and sent down the Danube River which was considered "international waters" and therefore these refugees could not be touched. Austrian Jews continued to escape this way until April 1940 and my customers were two of those passengers lucky enough to get a spot on one of these river boats. They said they felt like gypsies living with no homeland for all those war years.
After the war, the sisters and three cousins ended up in the Denver area and have lived on American soil for the past 60 years. And then the conversation turned from war-torn Europe to life now as U.S. citizens and how grateful they both felt to be living in a country where they were free. One of the sisters said, "I never take one day here for granted." Wow, I thought, now there's an appreciation for what one has. The other sister shared with me that she miscarried four times and never had children of her own. She was very matter of fact and with no self-pity. It was what it was. But she leaned in a bit closer and said to me, good luck with the pregnancy and "stay happy". Stay happy. I thought that was a wonderful way to conclude such an amazing interaction with total strangers. I will never forget these women or this conversation for as long as I live.