Люба Фитингоф
Canada
Dearest Jack! This letter is long overdue, as I have been regularly reading your stories (my stories, our stories) and thinking how is it possible to walk back in time by just being transformed by your recollections. … I have known you from those carefree days on our magnificent Jurmala beach: where sun was warm, the water was cool and the young bodies and hearts were hot. I do not think that the years can change our hearts, the time can change our bodies just slightly (as we do take very good care trying to preserve our physics), but the priceless memories of those carefree young years do stay forever. For me personally growing up with the loving family and many friends who did not have gadget toys, but had books and shared these books with each other, the raindrops on our heads when we tried to get movie tickets at the “Banga” movie theatre in Bulduri dying to see a “piece of Americana”: Audrey Hepburn playing Natasha Rostova in “War and Peace” all these moments are so near and so precious. Bringing up my daughter Marianna and spending summers in Monticello, upstate New York I used to tell her that the raindrops
here are just like on the Riga Seaside, the pine trees smell like in Bulduri, we used to sit on the porch with her and read books listening to the rain drops. I told her stories about 7 grandchildren standing in line (according to their heights) and waiting for their grandmother to fry potato latkes on a portable gasoline (kerosinka) stove and eat these delicacies topped with sour cream mixed with sugar with such appetite! I am so grateful for your unique talent to simply put down on paper our memories of growing up in Riga. I read your stories and I can hear your voice, as if you are telling these stories and I can see myself and hundreds of others who were young once, who did not need a lot, who treasured their friendships and valued the best things in life and the best things in life ARE free, as we were CAREFREE once! Thanks for the memories, Jack! The next step should be a movie‌ maybe? With lots of gratitude and admiration for your talent, Luba Fitingof