"Parting is so painful"... It took me many years to be able to hear this with-out crying. I remember it from an LP collection of songs sung by "Heintje" Simmons who sung, then, in Dutch and German and was quite popular. (I didn't know then that he is a mere 18 days my elder!) My Grand-parents had several LPs by Heintje and my Grand-mother would play and, after my Grand-father's death, would sing this and cry.
"Manchmal sitzt du bei mir Und dann sage ich zu dir Daß ich immer im Leben zu dir steh'"
"Sometimes you sit by me and I say to you that I will be with you all through life"
When Yonah comes to me, whether when we have our after-noon naps or rests on my shoulder as I sit at the desk in his room, I remind him "I am here for as long as you are here."
