Berlin, 22.04.2017 Sweet little 13

I remember I got my first really cool cassette tape on my 13th birthday, my sister had created the mix and the first song was Billy Idols 'Hot on the city'. She had named the tape 'Sweet little 13'. To name my son 'little' doesn't really fit, being taller than 1,80 m already. But still though, it is a special time, in between childhood and adulthood. So were the presents: one voucher for the cinema and some books, one being a coffee-table book on migrating birds. The food Luise and the boys prepared was actually great: Sushi, Lasagne, ice cream and smoothies. Hoping for more to come!

Munich, 29.04.2017 Family gathering

The family of my fathers mother used to get together for every important birthday or wedding anniversary of any of my grandmothers siblings. We used to be quite a bunch of people, since my grandmother had one sister, one twin sister and two younger brothers (only one of them died young). I remember we booked whole hotels for such occasions, and I just enjoyed being one of many kids - having only one 'real' cousin, who was anyway far too old for me, I just loved meeting and playing with children my age. The last big family meeting had been in 2005 in Dresden, and we had not participated since we had recently moved to Shanghai. So for me, 1994 had been the last time I had met all those cousins of mine, when most of us were still living at home with our parents, we had not yet decided what profession to learn or which city to move to. My uncle Norbert was the one who initiated the gathering, but he had asked my generation to participate in the preparations, and I was excited to do so. The twin sister of my grandma had died in 2014 aged 100 years - ! - and I couldn`t imagine not catching up with all of those uncles, aunts and cousins I used to meet so frequently in my childhood. So here, in pictures, the three days we spent together in Schloss Fuerstenried in Munich, the residency of my uncle Christoph who is a Jesuit priest. To put it in the words of the intercessions that were spoken spontaneously in the family service on Sunday: we pray for the ones among us who are sick, we hope for the ones with sorrow friends and family to give comfort

Family tree: one couple (great-grandparents), five kids (grandparents), 14 grandkids (parents), 31 great-grandkids (my generation), 34 great-great grandkids (my kids generation)