A note of thanks to Reimund

Reimund, it was so good to see you. You are a wonderful friend, and our whole family enjoyed seeing you again.  As I mentioned last night at the farewell party, of all the things I have had the chance to do as a teacher over the past 20 years, our exchange between your Musikschule students from Bietigheim-Bissingen, and our music students from Downers Grove, ranks at the very top of the list.  I am more proud of this program than anything else I have been a part of as an educator.  Thank you for everything you do to continually nurture the success of the exchange.

One of the things that I wanted to tell you personally this morning (and I never had a moment after we met the students) was how thrilled we are to have received the very special artwork from you and Steffi. Gifts of this nature are so meaningful because of the personal connection to your family. We will really enjoy having this piece in our home, and will think of you and Steffi every time we look at it. To have an ORIGINAL work from the 1800s, that is connected to your family is a great honor. "Danke" just doesn't seem sufficient.

I think Miles' reaction to your departure this morning was further proof that your friendship is very special to our family. Thank you for recognizing his tears and coming back out of the terminal to say good-bye to him and give him a hug. I think this picture is so telling because he is trying so hard to smile, but the sadness can be seen in his young eyes.

I hope the weather perks up for the group in KC. At least we had one nice day here! The more important part is that I think many new friendships were established between our students.

Hello to your entire family ... but please extend our greetings to Daniella on her birthday today!!

Safe travels my friend,
Brayer

German Delegation Visit

This past week I was a part of a welcoming team that greeted seven German politicians from Bietigheim-Bissingen. The visit, which was sponsored by the Village of Downers Grove, was an outreach to the city which has hosted many of our student musicians over the past twenty-four years.

I was pleased to be a part of the committee that put the visit together, which included tours of the "Test Kitchens" of Sara Lee (World Headquarters in DG), a Rotary Lunch, a tour of our Level I Trauma Center at Good Samaritan Hospital, a cook-out at our new Village Fire Station, a Village Council Meeting, meetings with the Downtown Management Corporation, and a meeting with community educators to discuss expanding student exchange opportunities. It was a packed agenda, which also included a day of sight-seeing in Chicago (led by yours truly) and a farewell-recpetion (hosted by yours truely and his better half).

It was really great to meet several new friends from Bietigheim-Bissingen, a community that I hold close to my heart. In particular, I enjoyed the chance to get to know their mayor, Bürgermeister Kessing. He was a really great person, and I think he really enjoyed connecting with our family. He has two young daughters; one is Emery's age. He bought both our our children a gift before he left (he's pictured here with the football he gave Miles).