Rebecca Dieckmann

In looking back over my email archive, I found that I had received an email from Rebecca Dieckmann, a high school classmate of mom's, on 7 November 2007. In the mess of things that I was going through at the time, I completely forgot to give this email and its author their due. I apologize, Rebecca.

Here is Rebecca's email:

Dear Jake,

I was a member of your mother’s 1962 U-High graduating class. I just wanted you to know how very sorry I was to learn of her recent passing.

We had not kept in touch, but I did contact her when we were making plans to get together to celebrate our 40^th high school reunion. Although she was unable to join us, she did ask for one of the group photos, as I think she was curious to see us at age 58. I think the most important thing to come from the reunion was the ability for everyone to contact each other and keep in touch after that. I think Linda was appreciative of the fact that her old friends were interested in her life (it was so different from most of the rest of ours) and to want to connect after 40 years. Your mother obviously led a rich and rewarding life. I would love to hear from you to know more of her later years.

Becky Hickman Dieckmann

Rebecca, I promise to contact you. For now, this blog contains some stuff about her later life.

Linda's Camera

When I was in Chapel Hill to help mom to pack for her move to Egypt, Mom gave me her Ricoh XR-2s 35mm film camera and its lens. The camera, which is compatible with the Pentax cameras and lenses I prefer, was a welcome addition to my system.

Farah, my daughter, recently started a photography class that requires an old school manual film camera and lens, so I gave her Mom's camera to use (and to keep, if she promises to take good care of it).

Farah is using her grandmother's camera. It is as if mom has the opportunity to participate in Farah's education and the development of her talent. I love the continuity.

Service Outages

Bear with me, reader(s?), as I get my computers back together again. My main computer crashed, taking with it almost all my photos, my scanning software, and all sorts of other things. This not only prevents me from using the materials and tools, but also occupies much of my time as I attempt to restore everything. Watch this space for updates.

Computer Woes

I am dealing with a serious computer crash, so I have very little to offer today. All I can say is that this ordeal is similar to the issues mom had with her computer all the time. She would write me emails entitled "This Wretched Computer," and I would know that she meant it was time for me to visit her because it had been too long. Many times the computer was just a pretense. She knew I could not turn down a damsel in distress.

Teita Linda

When mom was over at our apartment in 2006, my son Ali started calling mom "Teita," which is what Egyptians call their grandmothers. Years earlier, Sarah had asked mom what she wanted to be called by her grandchildren, and mom said "Nana," so she attempted to correct Ali by telling him that his grandmother should be called "Nana," not "Teita." Mom, always on the side of the weaker party, insisted that she should be called "Teita." Ali could not have been happier.

Ali often brings up mom. He knows she's gone, but he still mentions her. He is a lucky one; he got to meet her.

The Grandkids

When I wrote that last sentence in yesterday's post, "There will be more about the grandkids soon," I had no idea that the statement would be prophetic! This morning, Aziza announced that she and Ahmed are expecting their first child this September. Needless to say, we are ecstatic about the news, and a little sad that mom could not be here to meet the new baby (babies?).

There is even more news on that front, but I will only hint at this until the involved parties give me the go-ahead to talk about it.

Congratulations, Aziza and Ahmed. I, for one, know that you will be ridiculously good parents.