Poland WWII: Zygmunt & Batalion Parasol

Humory dopisują – żołnierze batalionu „Parasol” przy nasłuchu radiowym. „Szprotka” (Władysław Holender), „Graf” (Zygmunt Lutyk), „Niesz” (Stanisław Nowiński), „Ryś” (Zbigniew Chmaj).

I found this picture on the web.  The first time I’ve ever seen it.  The photo has a picture of my dad, Zygmunt (Sigmund after he came to the United States). He is known as Grandpa Sig to my kids though they never met him.  He died six months before his 5oth birthday and a number of years before Nora and I got married.

This photo was taken in Warsaw most likely in 1944 before the Uprising began.  The four young men are all a part of the Parasol Battalion of the Polish Underground.  Parasol means Umbrella in Polish.  They were named so because the Battalion was to join the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade in free Poland when the country was won back.

Batalion Parasol logo

The caption below the photo says,

Humory dopisują – żołnierze batalionu „Parasol” przy nasłuchu radiowym. „Szprotka” (Władysław Holender), „Graf” (Zygmunt Lutyk), „Niesz” (Stanisław Nowiński), „Ryś” (Zbigniew Chmaj).

My attempt at translation shows it to say

Humor [codename] writes – soldiers of the “Parasol” Battalion listening at the radio. “Szprotka” (Sprat? = small herring] (Władysław Holender), “Graf” [Count] (Zygmunt Lutyk) , “Niesz” [No matter what?] (Stanisław Nowiński), “Rys” [Sketch] (Zbigniew Chmaj).

Zygmunt, my dad, is seen 2nd from the left in the back.

I look forward to writing more about this era of Lutyk Lore as I have time.  Much to say about Batalion Parasol, my dad, his younger sister Janina Lutyk [codename: Scarlett], known on one blog as the “Heroine of the Warsaw Uprising”.  She received three 3 medals of valor and her husband Jerzy Mirski [codename: Zapadko or Ratchet in English] who was the last leader of Batalion Parasol during the Uprising and received a medal of valor.

London 2012: Next Stop, George Lane!

 

GEORGE LANE CONFUSION

Some controversy arose just before my trip as to where I lived at the time of my birth.  My brother Sig had gone to London some 12 years ago and brought back photos (which I don’t believe I’ve ever seen) of the home where my mom and dad lived in during our time in London.

I did not remember the house number exactly but thought it was 6 George Lane which when googled turned out to be on a block covered in townhouses. Problem?  Sig said it was a detached home and definitely not a townhouse.  Talking to my cousin Christine she confirmed my brother’s contention that it was certainly not a townhouse but a detached home.  So maybe I had the wrong street altogether.  Additionally the birth certificates I sent for had not arrived.  Not a very encouraging thought on the day I am heading out to the UK.

Online picture of George Lane… no detached homes, what to do?

HOSPITAL, NO… REGISTRY, YES!

I had hoped things would clear up when I went to the hospital both Christine and I were born in. But Lewisham Hospital was a dead-end.  Construction blockage! No records available! See you later!  I would need to go the Registry in Lewisham. Thank you very much!!  (See Part 1 for my Lewisham Hospital Adventure https://theworldoflu.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/london-return-to-roots/)

But my disappointment was short-lived. Turns out the Lewisham Registry was next door!

The Lewisham Registry – Would the information I needed be available to me?

As you can see it is a rather small building.  Entering you come up to the main counter quite quickly.  I was greeted immediately by a registry clerk.  I explained my situation.  The clerk responded that she couldn’t give me that information flat out.  Yes the residential address of my parents was available  but it could only be given to me in document form.  How long to get a document I asked.  Clerk said I would have to come back in a few days to get it.  Dead end?

The Lewisham Coat of Arms above the outside door told me I had arrived at the right place, at the doorstep of all that was official in town! But would bureaucracy thwart my quest?

Undeterred I continued my plea explaining that I had sent out for my Birth Certificate and had not received it though it had been at least 4 weeks ago.  And all I really needed was the address.  I took a deep breath and proceeded with my “in the beginning I was Adam” story (https://theworldoflu.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/in-the-beginning-i-was-adam/) hopeful that I could sway her some way.  Of course I said, I was now Chris (grin!) and she could easily verify that because Christopher is listed on the birth certificate as a baptismal name.  She was listening a little more intently… this was not your run of the mill birth certificate sob story! I told her I knew the full birth name on the certificate was Adam George and I knew my Mom’s maiden name and Dad’s name and gosh, even the street name. Sheesh, I just needed the house number!

It seems that another lady, the head clerk, was also listening and once I had communicated my mom and dad’s names she had slipped out a side door and was soon in the room with an old ledger that was quite wide.  She flipped through the pages like some wizardly official rifling through a Hogwarts ledger, asking me to confirm the birth date. Then stopped at a page with beautiful fountain pen ink scrolled names… my heart jumped when my eyes alighted on the cursive “Christopher George”.  She said, are you confident of the street name?  My mind raced… could I have been wrong all these years?!? No I couldn’t have been.  I blurted out, yes!  She said, you’re right… 158 George Lane it is. As she said it I saw the penned entry upside down 158 on the ledger and knew my quest was safe!

 ON TO GEORGE LANE!

Freshly energized I stepped out of the Registry and started snapping photos of the building and additional shots of the hospital. I walked from the newest to oldest sections of it as posted in Part 1 London 2012: Return to Roots – https://theworldoflu.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/london-return-to-roots/.  Below is the map of my route to my first ever home!

Start at A – Lewisham Hospital and Registry
End at B – 158 George Lane

Below is a similar map but definitely not Google, Bing or MapQuest!  It’s High Street and George Lane in Lewisham circa 1894!  The Lewisham Union Workhouse is seen on the hospital side of High Street! See Part 1 to see a photo of the Workhouse entrance. I think it’s pretty cool that the two maps bear distinct similarities especially the route I would be walking.  During 1894 – 1895 a new addition would be built and the Workhouse would become the first iteration of Lewisham Hospital. A brief history of Lewisham can be found online along with this map at http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/lewisham/assets/histories/lewisham

Map of Lewisham c.1894
I added the route to 158 George Lane
Both roads on my route existed back then!

When I left the Registry I was aware that George Lane was on the bus route as a stop before the hospital but what I did not know was that George Lane would have a serious right hand turn to it.  I got a little disoriented at the fork in the road and had to ask a delivery truck driver how the street had become Radford Road.  

Regaining my bearings with his help I arrived at my destination. 158 turned out to be a duplex home and sad to say it was in a bit of disrepair.   The home attached to it was nicely painted and kept while this corner unit was in serious need of paint!

Here I am at last! 158 George Lane!
I like the stone wall in front!

It was drizzling again as I walked up George Lane but as I looked around the rain stopped and the sun came out. 

The front door – Anybody got some paint?!?

Unfortunately the door did not offer much of an encouragement but having looked at the home next door I was able to image this space painted and cleaned up.  When it was time to bring the preemie home decades ago this was the door Mom and Dad would have brought me through.

Me and my mom… heading home, I’m sure!

My mom and dad have both passed away, my dad over 30 years ago.   My mom last year on the same day my brother Rick died years earlier, July 24.  Memories flooded my mind as I stood at the door and I thought… I wish I could have shared this moment with her.  I would have loved to have heard the stories of London that she never told.  Photos have a way of awakening memories. 

1 – 5 – 8 This is the place!
Same address on my parent’s wedding invitation. It was the place of their reception

This address, 158 George Lane appears on another document that I missed seeing before I came to London.  It’s my Mom and Dad’s wedding invitation.  A reception was to be held after the ceremony at the grandparents residence on 158 George Lane.  My brother Sig had found it after my mom died and gave me one.

158 has been divided into at least two flats
Note the 2 additional entrances in this shot!

Some serious work was done on this place… I noticed the different colored brick on left and wondered what needed to be closed up or was that the original brick? The door at the sharp corner was obviously added but when I had no idea.  Definitely got the dish network system going strong with three attached to the building.  How many people were living here? I wish I had time to knock on the door on the left.  Someone was home but I would have to leave too soon.

The Back Door

Felt like a paparazzi sneaking around the residence.  Maybe people thought I was some kind of thief casing the joint!  That thought quickly became quite laughable as I re-accessed the shape of the home!  Anyway the place was for sale so I could have been some real estate agent getting my own pics of the place to show a client.

The back yard is not too bad in size
Tony would like the hammock!

It had a backyard… I must have played out here… I learned to walk here and lived out a portion of my terrible two’s in the yard!  I know for sure that my mom would have stuck me out in the pram as an infant no matter how cold to get some fresh air.  It was an interesting custom I heard that she would do.  Getting fresh air was important, not matter what!

Going outside? Fire up the pram!
I am totally ready!

 So I swung around to the back alley/driveway to get a better picture of the back side of the house.  The place seemed covered in a canopy of greenery.  But I got a couple of shots, one of the dormers of the top floor.  Did I get my own room before we moved?

A shot from the back alley

Green, green, green… oh there’s the back of the house!  Love the chimney… lots of fireplaces in the homes in Lewisham and London, of course.

Back dormer windows & classic London chimney!

Don’t want to leave but get a nice picture of the brick wall (wonder how old?) and couldn’t help getting the for sale sign.  Hope somebody fixes it up so when I come back again it will look really, really nice!

This Fixer-Upper is for sale!
Corner lot and all!

Getting ready to leave I snap a picture across the street.  George Lane was here before 1894.   Lot of history… Wonder what it looked like back then.

Across the street looking northeast **(added postscript at the end)

Turned to head back to down George Lane.  At the end of the street is the fork in the road.  More like a sharp left to continue on George Lane from here.

Looking west down George Lane
You can see some of the townhouses that I saw online

One last shot of the For Sale sign and the house as I head out to look for the church I was baptized in. 

For Sale… Hope the new owners fix it up real nice.
It needs a good facelift!

**Postscript – As I was looking over this post I saw something I had not noticed before in one of the pictures… the photo of the homes across the street… I had not noticed that they too were duplexes and if I am seeing it correctly they are the same type of homes as 158.  So this is what my old home could look like and… could have looked like!  As I look back at the photos of 158 I can picture it being painted and fixed up.  The bay window on 158 looks very similar to one of the bay windows across the street.  Nice revelation!  Leaves me with a good feeling.  My brother said my mother spoke of a white house and now I can picture it!  CL

London 2012: A Return to Roots

Part 1 of 2

DESTINATION LEWISHAM

Friday, July 20, 2012 was the day I finally got my chance. I had wanted to go Thursday so that if there was anything unforeseen I would still be able to make my trip.  Fortunately, though my right foot hurt from periodic cramps (compliments of lots of London sightseeing) I experienced relatively little problems with transportation. I had gotten online earlier and was thrilled to see that our hosts here in Bromley were correct.  Only 4.3 miles to my destination of Lewisham University Hospital.  And London’s mass transit is awesome!

One of the famous red double-decker buses of London!
They were literally everywhere!

ROOTS DELAY

Only one delay. I had two lithium batteries for my camera.  On Thursday on the way home the 2nd one gave out and I was left battery-less! I decided to buy a new one and get the other two charged.  I found a camera/photo shop across from the bus stop and was happy to buy the last compatible lithium battery on the shelf.  After purchasing it, eager to be on my way, I replaced the battery in the camera only to find that this brand new lithium had absolutely ZERO charge!!  Say it ain’t so!  “Arrgghhh!!,” I groaned, simply aghast in unbelief that I could be sold a defunct battery right out of the package!

What to do?  I’ve come too far to abort this trip.  I was on a mission.  So I told the salesman,  “I’m going to go to lunch. I’ll be back in 30 minutes.  Charge all my batteries.  When I return I’ll take one with me.  Keep charging the rest while I’m gone.”  He nodded still showing the sting of embarrassment on his face.

NANDO’S TO THE RESCUE!

So off I went to lunch hopeful I would find the Nando’s restaurant I had caught sight of briefly from the return bus the night before.  If you know me you know that I really like Nando’s and their unique South African Portuguese Peri Peri Chicken.  I discovered the Peri Peri hot sauce while traveling in South Africa in 2003 and since then whenever I found a bottle of it at a local (or not so local ) store I would buy some no matter the price.  A few years ago the first Nando’s opened in Washington DC near the Verizon Center and since I worked across the street from it I became a very regular customer.  The Nando’s chain is an international phenomenon with restaurants found in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia and the UK (to name a few),  The managers of the DC location were from London.

One of the 200 Nando’s restaurants in London alone!

Little did I know that there were 200 Nando’s restaurants in the city of London alone. Had I known that  they were pretty much ubiquitous in town I wouldn’t have been so concerned in locating one!  The Bromley Nando’s turned out to be only a block and a half from the bus stop.  The meal was delicious and probably the best value of any meal I had on my trip… £6.75 (which is about $10.60 depending on exchange rate).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

It didn’t take too long to get my partially charged Lithium battery, load it up in my camera and catch the next big red double-decker bus towards Lewisham. The pictures below are of the town of Bromley which is in South London.  We were in the suburbs here!  They had a very nice mall there called The Glades (half way up the street to the right is the court yard the brings you to the entrance).  Funny thing… it closes every night at 6:00pm except Wednesday when it is open till 9:00pm .(!!) Go figure!?!

The red restaurant called Cafe Rouge was Dan and Lariah’s favorite eatery.  They were able to find them everywhere they went, even having a meal in the airport the day of our departure! (click on the picture for a closer look!)

Bromley Bus Stop – Nandos up the street and to the right

From the upper deck of my Red Bus – Leaving Bromley

I traveled north to Lewisham 20-25 mins stopping every 2-4 blocks. Upon arrival I was greeted by (you guessed it) London showers. The bus dropped me off right at the hospital… 390 High Street, Lewisham SE13 6LH.  As the rain came down harder I found my way around to the new wing entrance (Riverside Building which was officially opened in May 2007 by Bishop Desmond Tutu). and checked in to see if the records department might assist me in getting the exact address of my first home in Lewisham.  The records department was blocked by construction and there was no way they could see me in person.  They also told me I had go the City Registry as they were unable to access any of my records!

Where was this City Registry I inquired?  The receptionist smiled and said… next door!

Happily I proceeded out into the now light rain and began snapping pictures of the old wings of the hospital that welcomed this preemie into the world.

In the rain my first glimpse of Lewisham University Hospital (old wing)

Looking for an entrance to the hospital…

Must be down the street… starting to rain harder!

Ah there it is… Riverside entrance at the new hospital wing

Straight on view as the rain turned to a drizzle and then abated

BRIEF HOSPITAL HISTORY

This hospital has quite a history.  It started out as workhouse for inmates in 1817 and went through various renovations and additions in 1837 and 1865. A separate infirmary was added in 1984.  This date marks the beginning of the hospital era.  The photos above and below of the red brick building are ones of the infirmary built in 1894.  More details of the fascinating history of Lewisham Hospital can be found at http://www.ezitis.myzen.co.uk/lewisham.html

Exiting from the registry I looked up… Man. this building is old!
It was actually built in 1895 for medical staff accommodation.

As the sun breaks through it’s me that’s feeling a bit old… but nonetheless happy!
This building is now the Childrens’ Out-Patients Department.

This original workhouse building along Lewisham High Street, built in 1817, preceded the hospital.
It is now called the Waterloo block.

The original 1817 entrance to the Lewisham workhouse.
This building could house 186 inmates.
At the top is the logo of the Lewisham Union above the doorway.

Pretty cool looking entrance… the logo of the Lewisham Union which was formed in 1837 to establish a Board of Guardians who would run the then expanding workhouse.

UNFORTUNATE NOTE

The hospital’s reputation has been none too good in recent years.  In fact in December of 2009 there came a “damning indictment of its patient care” and Lewisham Hospital was rated the worst in London.  Its bad reputation extended beyond the city and it was named as being one of the 12 poorest hospital trusts in the UK! (http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=lewisham+hospital&view=detail&id=20B94B47CFF1196C6F3D7ED94D79EF3F4BBD6763)  No wonder people raised the eyebrows a bit when I mentioned where I came from! LOL!  Got out of there none too soon!

Along with this sad note I also found out that there have been plenty of gangs in Lewisham (one of them was called the Ghetto Boys) and they were pretty notoriously bad over the years. Like I said, eyebrows were raised when I said I was born in Lewisham… like saying I was born in Anacostia.  I hope to write a future blog called “Can anything good come out of Lewisham?” discussing life in Lewisham for my parents and many displaced Polish after WWII.

But time to move on. Having found the hospital I was ready to visit the neighborhood…

Continued with Part 2 London 2012: Next Stop, George Lane!

London: George Lane – the First Years

Wow! Are we really going back to London!

Londontown visit is on the horizon.  I hope to visit the area where I lived my first 2 1/2 years.  My mom told me that we lived at 6 George Lane in the London Bourough of Lewisham.

My birth certificate states that I was born in Lewisham and that I was baptized at the Catholic Church there. Hopefully we’ll get to visit and take some pics.  I haven’t found any photos of the outside of the townhouse yet.

My mom, Danuta and her older sister Hala and their mom Janina (who we kids called Babcia aka Grandma) lived in Lewisham.  Eventually Hala marries Wlodzimierz and Danuta marries Zygmunt (later US spelling – Sigmund) and the both get pregnant.  Hala’s due date  for her baby was to be sooner that her sister’s but… Danuta’s baby, Chris was born premature and beat Hala’s baby, Christine by a month (June – July!)

Kid Preemie with Mom (Danuta) & Dad (Zygmunt)

It just dawned on me why my mom was going to call me Adam. Her sister had picked Christine and so my mom defered to her so that there wouldn’t be two Chris’ running around the row house!   And fittingly Hala as the older sister was going to have her baby first.  But it looks like my dad had no such loyalties. When I arrived ahead of schedule he didn’t mind calling his son Chris… ahead of Hala!  Of course he had to override my mom who had already talked to the hospital staff. She could always say it wasn’t her fault… see, look at the birth certificate!  So the duality of Adam/Chris was born!

And thus my grandfather who was greatly beloved by Danuta (and of course Hala, but I never talked to her about it) was given his first grandchild (and grandson) through the younger sister.  I’ll have to talk to Christine to check in with her to see if she knew of any sibling rivalry.

Christine, Aunt (Ciocia) Hala, Babcia (Janina) (l to r)

Unfortunately any potential for preferential treatment ended when my grandfather died of lung cancer within a year or so.

My cousin Christine, my mom’s sister Hala (and her husband) and my mom’s mother Janina would stay in London for a number of years after my mom and dad and me left.

I have never been back to George Lane since though I have been back to London for a day some time ago.  Hopefully I will get some good pictures.

My mom and dad somewhere in London

Happy the war is over… My mom with friends in Paris (I am told!)

In the Beginning… I was Adam

Me with my Mom (Danuta) in London probably wondering, “Who am I?”

There I was in the passport office… Now what is your name, Sir?  Chris Lutyk.  OK and is this your birth certificate?  Yes.  Well OK, thank you. Oh… this paper is the birth certificate of an Adam G Lutyk.  You say this is yours.  Yes, ma’am… uh… if you look to the right you’ll see the baptism name… Oh, OK I see it, it says Christopher.  Smiling, I say, yes that’s right that’s my name. Well, I’m afraid we will need some additional identification.  Do you have any other ID with your “real” name?

And so it began…  I needed to prove that this Adam and me, Chris, were one and the same guy!  Yet the dilemma was that I had never been called Adam and until that time I never really grokked that my birth certificate didn’t “officially” say I was Christopher.  The good news was that at least it showed my baptismal name on it.  THAT confirmed that the name Christopher didn’t just appear out of thin air one day.

Turns out that when I was born my mom was asked what my name was and she blurted out Chris but it sounded like Adam… no, not really!  She actually said Adam and much to my Dad’s chagrin!  “I thought we agreed on Christopher”!  No other details were ever revealed to me concerning this SNAFU.

A somewhat stunned Adam after being baptised as Christopher… my uncle and mom oversaw this life-transforming switcheroo!

I was baptized a week or so after my birth, my Uncle (married to my Dad’s sister, Jana), George (or Jerzy or Jurek in Polish!) Mirski was my godfather.  In those days the documents bureau in London added the baptism name to the official birth certifcate.  Lucky for me!  So in the beginning… I was Adam.  After baptism… I was Christopher (Christ bearer!).  That part I think is kind of cool!

So my baptismal name stuck and thereafter I lived in London as Chris until I was 2 1/2 years of age at which time my Mom (pregnant with my brother Rick) and Dad and I gained passage on some steamer heading for America.  (Neil Diamond singing in the background!) We had been sponsored by my Dad’s older relatives Jan and Zophia Lutyk who moved from Canada to the DC area (great story for later post!).

I don’t know if I was Adam or Chris on my visa.  I assume it was Adam.  Up till then though, I had been called by Chris (Krysio in Polish) all my life.  Looks like my mom enrolled me in daycare and school and whatever with the name Christopher G Lutyk.  Without filling out any official papers to affect that change I would obviously be flying under the radar until some day of judgment in the future.  I had no idea. In my mind there was no one but Chris! And no one asked any questions and I pretty much officially became Chris Lutyk!  (Trumpets sound!)

My parents eventually became citizens of this great land and as is customary renounced their British and Polish citizenships.  Via the natualization process I piggy-backed their citizenship with my own. I was now the American Chris!  And not the British Adam! (More trumpets, please!)

Official School Pic of Chris

Life proceeded without a hitch.  I finished High School as Chris, ditto College with Student Loan, throw in a marriage license and then ordination and minister’s license.  Got my Social Security Card… the IRS was happy to take my taxes! I was 100% Chris… the old self, Adam was nere to be found!  (ta-da!)

All was right with me and America and the world until the day I wanted to leave the country.  I was a pastor at the time and I was pretty excited about my first trip out of the country!  I was going to Buenos Aires, Argentina for a week-long conference. And this catches us up to my first encounter with the glorious US Passport Office!  The unexpected S.N.A.G!

So how does the Passport Office Counselor Affairs of the Department of State help me get this resolved?  How does one right the information for a passport for a birth certificate gone wrong in London? Not easily to be sure!

Every piece of identification that I had on me except the birth certificate said my name was Christopher G Lutyk.  But was that good enough for the DoS of the good ole USA?  Nope!  Not by a long shot…

They decided to banish me the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service aka INS, an agency that no longer exists since 2003.  Now it’s the Department of Homeland Security.  Glad this all happened before DHS!  Who knows what would have transpired!  As it is, what happened was wild enough!

First they needed to see mail from my current residence addressed to me… like electric and gas and auto insurance and the like. Then I needed get copies of my parents naturalization papers which of course you could not get from the main INS office I was at.  I had to go to the court my parents did the swearing of allegiance… which they couldn’t tell me!  After a bit of searching I was off to Alexandria!  Once I got those I needed go back to my grade school St Thomas More in Arlington where I went from first through fourth grades.  There I needed to get a couple of report cards (!?!) which had my date of birth and my address and proved that Chris existed back then!  Naturally my mom vouched for me and signed whatever affadavit was required.

But was that enough… No, of course not! I had to go to another INS office a few times for them to get the record of the day I came into New York harbor along with the name of the ship I traveled on with my parents!  This information must have been buried under Ellis Island in a time capsule considering how long it took to find it.

Finally after successfully jumping obediently through the maze of hoops I was certified as both Adam and Chris!   Of course being certified as the same person helped more that I could imagine… MPS – multiple personalilty disorder was thankfully stricken off the list of my possible psychological maladies that day!

I was issued a bona fide US Passport with the name… you guessed it!  Christopher George Lutyk. No mention of Adam on it at all.

This later came in very handy when I needed to get my government clearance.  Thankfully the Passport Office has all the gory details logged in my file saving me ever to go through this again.  As long as… I don’t let my US Passport expire! (perish the thought!!)

Going to England soon has brought all this back to memory.  I now ask myself.  Why haven’t I officially changed my name to Chris so that Adam is finally put to rest?  Good question… hope to answer that soon. Till then I leave us with this final thought.

In the beginning… I was Adam (and of Adam).  In the end… I am Christopher (and I am of Christ)!  That part I like!

Hello world!

Yes, folks it’s here!  The World of Lu is finally upon you.  Hopefully you will enjoy visiting quite often and sharing in the adventures of us who have been happily, amazingly and sometimes frustratingly placed in the family Lu, known as Lutyk in the proper English speaking world and more importantly for IRS purposes.

The World of Lu promises to be insightful, frivolous and good-hearted… maybe even funny.  Initially I will be looking back at some significant milestones in the life of this people called Lu.  There’s Fishnet, there’s Mary Washington, there’s Death Walk (yes, that’s right!) there’s Elena calling Meeester Kreese on the phone, there’s Carlos Mendoza and a song called “In Your Holy Place”.  We’ll look at fun stuff like the 3 in 5 Plan and Nora’s letter that got us a new job!  Don’t worry we’ll be doing current stuff too! So check in often.  The World of Lu will be linked to our extended family of Facebook friends.

One more thing… the tagline as they call it is significant too.  It came to me recently, early one Saturday morning…  “Creating a digital heritage for the past, the present and future.”  I have no diary and there is no stash of love letters communicating to far off lands, no books I’ve penned or even yearly Christmas updates.  No recordings or videos, maybe some pictures crammed into disorganized boxes and manila envelopes. So this, God willing, will be an offering to The World of Lu of reflections, musings and anecdotes and remembrances that may one day be collected and reflected upon as a way of recalling the good things of a rich family history and the blessings and providence of a loving Lord of all.