Sentimental Value

A friend popped in for a lovely visit yesterday. In the course of reviewing some of the old photos I have scanned for this blog, we stumbled upon the original snapshot of the 1936 Kaunas flood. My Dad had described that flood earnestly to his Father, Vytautas, who was traveling in Belgium, in a note that filled the back of the photo.

Vytautas's trip to Belgium loomed large in our family's history. Perhaps in the mid-1930s, people considered a trip from Lithuania to Belgium a big expedition. I suppose for people who lived in a country that was the size of West Virginia, a journey that took longer than a few hours was significant. My Mom, for example, remembers packing lunches, blankets, and other "long distance" supplies for the train trip from Mom's hometown of Kaunas to Mariampolis, where her maternal Grandparents lived. Those two Lithuanian cities stand about one hundred kilometers apart.

Alternatively, maybe the Belgian trip glowed in everyone's memory because it represented a significant milestone in Vytautas's career. Vytautas, who was an officer in the Lithuanian Army, traveled to Belgium to purchase supplies for the Army. (I've wondered why Vytautas was not in uniform when he traveled to Belgium.)

Just as I'd been thinking about that Belgian trip again, my Toronto Cousin last night coincidentally sent me a photograph of the souvenir brass bell that Vytautas brought from Bruges in 1936 as a gift for his wife, my paternal Grandmother Tatjana.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 2012. The brassy gal from Bruges has stayed shiny.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.