Speak, Friend, and Enter

Wow, looking at stats just now and there were 26 viewers from Deutschland! How lucky for me. Grüß Gott!  Tausend Dank. I have never been to your country, though it is certainly on my list. I don't know your language, but I have family that speaks it fluently. My American heritage includes several citizens of Deutschland, including my surname Adler, which means Eagle.

So welcome all. As written over the entrance of Moria in Elvish- Speak, Friend, and Enter. (OK, yes, I am a Tolkien nerd :) )

I am curious about what made so many of you drop by my blog this week...as opposed to other weeks. Please feel free to drop comments at the bottom of a page that interests or aggravates you. I'd love to hear from you.

But interestingly, that is not why I am addressing you today. I'm going to do something I have not yet tried here before. I'm going to reach out to the blogsmos and ask if anyone knows three characters from my past that I have lost touch with and would love to connect with. If these three people ring a bell with anyone, please pass the word on that Nick Adler would love to connect again.

The first two are German citizens, brothers. They were visiting the United States back around 1979, 1980...in the Northern Arizona area. Their father worked for Lufthansa which allowed them flight privileges that sent them on adventures to see the world. That, along with liberal enough parents that let them travel to distant countries unchaperoned. On the trip where I met them, the were 'campers' involved with the YMCA Adventure Camp to hike Havasupi Canyon. I was one of the counselors on that trip, and the three of us struck up a good friendship. My memory, 35 years later were that their names were Sven and Kurt...but I could be way off there (thinking of the Sound of Music or something...hahaha). If was a great trip, and anyone interested in finding out more about flight benefits working for airlines or camping with the YMCA, leave me a note and I can speak fondly on both. I'd like to think I have had a few adventures of my own, like Sven and Kurt (known to me as Dolphin), and flight benefits and the YMCA both helped me in that regard.

The other friend from the past from that area of the world was a girl named Unni. It may have been Unni Wurzberger or some such spelling. I met her a few years later, up at Sky-Y Family Camp. My memory says that Unni (or Uni?) was from Austria. She was an exchange student staying with a family here in the states (perhaps California or Arizona) and they had come up to Sky-Y Family Camp. I worked for 5 or 6 years at this Camp...and again friends...if you want to do something different and meeting new people at a Family Camp environment suits you...I would encourage you to try this. I met many people  this way, and we all had a great deal of fun there. Anyway, this particular summer I met Unni and in a short time we became friends.

Right, don't go worrying about my integrity, this was just friends people! I'm not talking about stirring up some old romance...but friendships. There was a time when a 20 year old camp counselor could make friends with a couple boys and  a girl from Eastern Europe and there was no funny-bunny business about it. A kinder, simpler America perhaps? More on that in another post.

One thing I have found is that I was very casual about friendships at that time, and most of my life. All three of these 'friends' wrote me after our adventures together but I lapsed on the correspondence.

So, if anyone knows anything about these three friends of mine that I lost contact with...please encourage them to this URL. I'd love to catch up on these old friendships.

Cheers NCA.