.......So To Squeak! Poem by Margaret Kollmer

Darling Grandson and fellow Aquarian! Just a little note before I go, so to squeak …….

Life for us Aquarians can be a little tough. It shouldn’t be but, as we know, we sort of make things a little tougher for ourselves than we should just because of who we are, which makes some people (family mostly) think we are a breed apart.They consider they are the norm and we are aliens, but who’s to say that is so?

So, with much humility, I need to say to you some things that have taken me so long to learn. Having managed to get beyond 70 years being the person I am is quite an achievement, ha ha...but you still have such a long way to go and if there is any way I can help to make things easier for your own long pathway through life, then let me say just this to you my precious grandson – take it easy, bud! Your opinions ARE important. YOU are important but it would help if you could just learn to temper your temper (good one that, hey?) with a little softness. Being 6'4' is quite a load to carry, one way or another! Learn to box clever, with as much dignity and good humour as you can muster. I reckon horizontal size (of brain) is better than vertical size (of brawn) : -)

We ARE different and we can’t help where the stars were when we were born. It’s a difficult sign, Aquarius, but it’s the sign of the original thinker, (for this you pay a price!) the inventor, the computer and technology lover, the humanitarian, the teacher. We are GOOD people, sweetheart – THEY think we’re this, that or the other, but in our earlier years, we don't seem to find it very easy to share our inner selves too well. Too revealing or something. So we just leave them to guess... and of course they often get it wrong. It's a sort of we don't seem to fit in kind of feeling, don't you think?

I’m proud of you, my 19 year old grandson. Be strong. Be brave. Be noble and honest and, above all else, a gentleman of the highest order.Steer clear of people who are rough and loud mouthed and after your first early experimental flushes with alcohol, ease up so that you can see this wonderful world of ours with clear eyes. Be wary of being infected with brashness and gung ho - you who has such a tender and kind heart. Be strong enough to distance yourself from such people and you will triumph against many of life’s pulling-downs, if you know what I mean. I’m not promising you a rose garden ….there are such wonderful people out there too. Fortunately time blunts life's thorns along the way....: -)

I love you very much and remember with such fondness our time together in Vienna when you were just eleven years old. Such a special time it was - me trying to 'enculturalise' you and you wanting to pin-ball me! And how the only way I could get you to stay by my side was to stand in the street and sing 'Wiener Blud' out aloud in my horrible croaky voice. Oh, how I laughed when you rushed back to me, with beautiful, rosy cheeks, full of embarrassment and even fear - that I wouldn't stop!

I will have to leave you one of these days, in the hope that, aside from some of that boom-boom-bang-bang stuff, you will one day enjoy the great classics too – such strong, sweet melodies from the likes of Mozart, Strauss, Debussy and my all-time fave Chopin – all filling us with direct love-chords to He who made us. And their music.

Vienna – City of sheer delight....remember that wonderful chocolate cake - Sacher Torte. And the sushi! Your first time. And how brilliant you were at solving the underground stations and getting me safely wherever we went. Oh and the Mac burgers! A first for me - and then I wanted them all the time, ha ha. Oh, and that wonderful restaurant where I took you so that you could tell your friends you had black spaghetti with your Nan in Vienna.

Oh and my goodness, remember Girndl.... that funny little Gretchen-type figurine on a stick which you pushed around. I said we'd call her Girndl because she wore a Dirndl skirt and the words rhymed, and we laughed and laughed cos I was so silly. And then I took a photo of you under that sign 'Eind Fahrt' and again we laughed and laughed cos both of us were silly.

Then there was that magnificent Mozart Concert in the Schönbrunn Palace when every now and again you would fiddle with your fingers and stare all around but when I looked at you sideways you sat still and did your best to look interested. You were wonderful. I understood the lure of the pin balls and the coloured lights but you were there to give me one of the most wonderful nights of my life. And somehow, then, I knew that for the rest of your life you would remember Strauss, Mozart and me.

Finally, beloved grandson – be passionate about everything you do. Half-hearted is never good enough for an Aquarian! Love your job, your family, your hobbies, your future wife but above all, love life! It is good.