More Genius of Jankowski

So many years ago now I worked for this really amazing Swiss man named Hans. I was first hired as a home health aide to his wife who was getting on in age and ailing in health. Mildred was her name, she was an interesting lady. She lived about six months from the time I was hired and watching her and Hans together was always a pleasure. They had been married over sixty years and they were still best friends.  All those years later and they still held hands like sweethearts and he still called her his girlfriend. 

Mildred passed on and I continued to work for Hans for another two years. We were the best of friends. He made me laugh every single day. There was a nude beach not far from where he lived on Sauvies island.  He used to tease me and say " what's say we go to the noodlie beach" I would laugh and say now Hans behave yourself.  Well one day as we were driving home from our daily run to St. Johns where his sanitation business was I curved to the right instead of going straight towards his home. When he asked where we were going I said well to the noodlie beach of course. He started stammering and laughed and said " ooo no I can't do that my girlfriend is watching me from the sky and when i get there  I don't want her to be mad at me after being apart so long" I laughed and we made the circle on the back side of the Island which had been my intent all along. 

Hans was ninety four years old when he died. He was one of my best friends and I will never ever forget all the stories he told me. I will never forget the first time I made sauerkraut with him. I will never forget sharing a number six at the Linton cafe because that's what he and Mildred did.  I won't forget picking berries and peaches. I most certainly won't forget his off colored jokes about the cucumbers he grew or the way he would get a sparkle in his eye when he forced me to go to church with him telling me i needed more religion in my life. I won't forget helping him in the barn as we were shoulders deep in cow uterus helping save a few calves. Finally I won't forget the way that man loved me like I was one of his own children.  

What does any of this have to do with today's record? Well it was Hans that I thought of when I heard this record today the first person I thought of was Hans. It was just the kind of music he would have been tapping his toes to. Now anyone following this blog knows the last Jankowski record I reviewed got a harsh review. Today not so much. This one was actually pretty good. It might be because I was thinking of Hans and it made me smile but the music was much less bubblegum jazz and more the type of jazz that made my heart glad.  Then again maybe it's the meds for the headache. -laughs- 

More Genius of Jankowski

• Heidi
• Play A Simple Melody
• Canadian Sunset
• Cast Your Fate to the Wind
• Cruising Down  the Rhine
• Charming Vienna
• Sunrise Serenade
• Berlin Stroll
• The 24d Man Theme
• Alpine Highway
• Happy Frankfurt
• A Walk in Bavaria

Lessons for the day: Listen to something outside your comfort zone. Always call your lover sweetheart or girlfriend even if you have been married for sixty-five years. Sugar in your sauerkraut isn't always bad. Laughter keeps you happy and young. Good friends are never more than a song away when you really need them in your heart the most. 

Thank you Hans. I hope you and Mildred are painting heaven red. I love you and miss you.