Pines

My mother wept in front of us when she got the news of her father’s death. One of only two or three times that I saw her cry. She didn’t like to express outward emotions as a rule. She would have preferred to be by herself, unwitnessed by her children or by anyone.

Her sadness was private, meant for her alone, to harbor and nourish.

Her father was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1899 and left in 1922 when he was sent to the United States to study at Columbia College. He emigrated by way of Turkey, traveling on land, and in Constantinople, he boarded a ship to New York, a city he worked and lived in until he died. In his memory, trees were planted in Palestine-Israel. By whom? Family, friends, colleagues from the hospital where he worked? How many? Was it 100 trees? That sounds correct but I really can’t remember exactly. Maybe it was one tree.