Armin and Freda: a timeless love story


 Armin loves Freda and Freda loves Armin. They hold each other’s hands in public and in private. They take care of each other. They LOVE each other, really love each other. 

Armin and Freda survived Holocaust atrocities and chose to really live the gift of life they were given. They chose to thrive. 

Armin and Freda take care of each other’s health by going for three mile walks around the neighborhood and doing calisthenics when they return home. They also drink large jugs of water every day and eat homemade soups filled with antioxidants and protein and lentils and beans and chicken. Also lots of dill  

Armin and Freda tragically lost their spouses at a youngish age. An age where they still had so much living to do. What’s that saying? Mid 60s are the new 20s? So they chose life. They chose finding love. 

Armin and Freda traveled a long way from their European childhood homes to be set up by a kosher butcher in Los Angeles. It was a world away from where they had started, but some things were still done the same way. 

I don’t know if their relationship started as one of pleasant and convenient companionship, but it surely changed into something more. Into a deep love. Armin calls her his Fredala. 

Today is their 27th anniversary. Yesterday Armin’s Fredala died. His bride of more than a quarter century, always in a fine merino wool twin set, with statement pieces of jewelry, hair, nails & makeup just right, with her love of making her home and the world more beautiful, Fredala is gone. Armin is heartbroken. And the world in pandemic and quarantine is crazy, so Armin is heartbroken and alone without family to hold his hand to hear his stories of the great love they shared. 

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