Chapter 1:

Reflections from All Sides

It was a cold January evening in southeastern Wisconsin. I sat in my living room, glass of wine in hand, surrounded by an explosion of moving boxes and scattered housewares. My husband and I were newlyweds who had decided it would be brilliant to move in the middle of winter. Everything was in complete and utter disarray. So, naturally, I decided it was the perfect time to write a book.

I flopped down on the couch after a night of bubble wrapping and boxing our belongings. Sipping my wine, I allowed myself to survey the work I had just accomplished. My attention lingered on three beautiful mirrors leaning against our walls, waiting to be carefully packaged for the move. Each one had either been gifted to us or inherited from a family member over the years.

One was given to my maternal grandparents on their wedding day in 1946. It hung on the walls of their various homes throughout their lives. They were married on a cold January day, like the one I’d just spent packing up our condo. As their only grandchild, I was happy to inherit their beautiful mirror. Ever since I was a child, I had always admired its ornate golden frame surrounding the rectangular panel of beveled glass. It looked like something you might see in an old English manor. When my grandfather passed away in 2016, my mother took on the monumental task of going through all of his belongings. Many black and white snapshots from her childhood included the beautiful mirror in the background. It’s a rich piece of family history that I will pass on to my own children one day.

My maternal grandparents, Jerry and Helen Gerg, were always a beacon of light and love in my life. Their relationship was like a romance plucked straight from the silver screen. Before they ever officially met, Helen used to sit on her porch on Sundays and watch Jerry drive past in his yellow sports car. Every week as she watched him go by, she would tell my great grandmother, “I’m going to marry that man.”

One day, as fate would have it, she and my grandfather were at the local roller skating rink at the same time. She witnessed him drop a penny near the edge of the rink and she skated over to pick it up. At this point, she and Jerry had still not yet been formally introduced. Instead of giv