And how you can smell snow in the air before it comes - and the first little blue star flowers hidden in the niche of my tiny garden in Retz in the spring.
I shall miss feeling hungry and the delight of fresh semmel, fried chicken, lipptauer-brot and chocolate. The smell of fresh made coffee, the comfort of an afternoon pot of tea.
I shall miss sitting at kitchen tables and talking with beloved friends - their laughter, the warmth of their eyes and voices. The smell and the safety of the sound of a wood fire crackling and roaring in a stove.
The glory of Christmas's colors and fragrances. Ice flowers on a window pane. The first sweet green of new leaves on a linden tree - the hallelujah of that new green.
I shall miss the comforting warm weight of a cat asleep on my lap. And, already, I miss the easy intimacy of hugs and good morning kisses, of talks and breakfast and the comfort of a beloved man's body in one's room and heart.
I shall miss remembering all the good times I have had in my life and all the people I have loved and delighted in - I shall, perhaps, miss hoping.
Gail Gatterburg, March 1993