A class act turns 90.

[DFW]

5. Well, maybe our two parts of Germany (and don't forget, that's my wife's genes dominating!)

Germany is actually a very diverse place considering its small (from our perspective) size. Where my mom in law lives speaks mostly a version of "low German (Pladdütsch)" and has its own language, culture, folk music, etc. Go a couple hundred miles farther south to where we are, and you are in the Rheinland, with a more open, relaxed kind of feeling. Go all the way to the southeast, and you are in Bavaria, with its own language and local customs. Don't forget, until 1871, what is today called "Germany" was a patchwork quilt of duchies, principalities, small kingdoms and so-called "free cities."

My mom in law has survived more than I could ever imagine coping with. My girls got a healthy dose of her genes, luckily.