Harste--A Believe It Or Not Story

This story was never told to Patti or Lesa or Kristy.. ....it was on the back roads of my mind...my brother Art could verify the birthday story and Uncle Erich that there was a Lisa Karnebogen in Harste. How many verification does one need to make the story true.

I am a romantic and like to read Danielle Steele's books,sing songs from the heart in German and in English...now this is an advantage for multi-tongue immigrants that no one seems to complain about

Still in Germany...Now here is a BELIEVE IT OR NOT STORY.

In third grade there was a black haired and cute girl in my class.She was the daughter of a local farmer.Her farm home was by the big bridge on the bank of the river Harste.I don't think she knew I existed or cared.But not as far as I was concerned.She had a birthday celebration coming up and I tried to be noticed and get invited to that party,Well ...I did not get to go to the party but that did no diminish my feelings for her. I tried to make her jealous by paying attention to another girl in the class.That did not work either.I did not exist as far as she was concerned. The poets write that those feelings never go away...they fade and in unguarded moments come back with full force as if time never passed.In my case that is true to this day.I was told by my Uncle Erich that she died quite young maybe in her 20s

Time passed and I fell in love with my college sweetie who had black hair when I first saw her. She came in late for dinner and I happen to be the waiter at the table she was ushered to. At Cornell the late comers were always sitting with house mothers so they would be in best behavior.I served her milk and tea. She was a freshman and me a big senior with a mustache.That was back in the fall of 1960. However, my Mom also had black hair so it must have been something else. On Xmas Eve Day I asked her Dad for permission to marry his daughter and 1964 we heard the wedding bells ring.We planed our lives and lived in Skokie,Ill. before moving to St.Paul,Mn.

When our daughter,Kristine,was born in 1969 I was 30y old. The name was chosen from past family names.When our second daughter was born we broke with tradition and named her Lesa.You may note it is spelled with an e and not with i.I liked the softer sound that rhymes with the German word for reading...lesen.However the name of the cute black haired girl in 3rd grade was Lisa.Now you know the rest of the story according to a famous radio person.

Some of the episodes were never told before ... they were on the backroads of my mind.