Introducing Katharina: a unique woman. In many ways, she lives inside me, because her story has become my story. We have known each other a lifetime, and together have uncovered each our own pathways of life. Sometimes together, that is, and sometimes very much apart. This process comes with the realization that I am this woman, as well.
As Katharina puts it, “It takes almost a full lifetime to find who you really are and the knowledge that you can be and remain being this person you yourself created and evolved into, even as you bend and adjust.”
It is a rare privilege to know a woman such as Katharina. Born in East Prussia, she describes an idyllic childhood, rent asunder during the Russian invasion of her homeland during World War II. In these pages of Katharina, you will travel her life’s journey and will find her grown into a spirited young woman – a black sheep, some would say – who lives daringly and loves hard, and who ultimately discovers herself bereft but undaunted in a foreign land.
With Katharina I learned how to be resourceful, tenacious, self-sufficient, and steadfast — qualities which carried me through some of the toughest challenges of my own life. I have Katharina to thank for the lessons of acceptance and forgiveness. Without Katharina, I would not be who I am today.
It is my pleasure to share Katharina’s tale with you, as she has told it to me. In her sweeping story you will find the value of perseverance and feel the serenity of being true to oneself.
#memoir #nonfiction #personal development #creative nonfiction #essay #storytelling #writer
Ingrid Petty 