Tales from Crete | 78

I wonder if there are many of us a little older who remember the well-known TV quiz "What is it" with writer and journalist Piet van Deurs in deft slow motion turning and turning some archaeological object between his fingers, while the camera zoomed all the way in and he then in his deep voice asked the quiz participants "What is it"?

I could be tempted to do that with the picture for this week's story, and although many good guesses would be guaranteed, you would probably never guess the right answer. But it's here so you don't have to think about it anymore. The answer is: "It is the door that opened" that I wrote about last week. The door that always opens when another door closes. It is the door that you didn't think existed and that you have long since given up on finding.

What we can see in the picture, we can e.g. call a "Halletudse" like that for now, because that is what it is. This is exactly what the youngest of my daughters, Laura and her husband Bo, had given up hope for, because they were told that it could not be done. And it couldn't immediately either, even with several visits to the Fertility Clinic, and then you just have to admit that life is like that too. But they wanted a child, so instead they chose the same direction as my parents did in their time – the process started with being approved as adoptive parents, and bingo, exactly like my parents, and just before the final approval which was only a matter of form , "Halletudsen" invented himself and showed them that the door to what they wanted most was open and that Laura had finally become pregnant. So now there is a little new Halle on the way and the expectant parents are looking forward to it almost as much as we grandparents do. It's probably a bit strange, because even though we already have a couple of lovely grandchildren, it's just as big every time a new little branch is added to the family tree. Whether it will be a small Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology) or a small Hermes, Pan, Heracles or perhaps Dionysus (god of power) is impossible to say. But there is no doubt that the little new world citizen will probably be influenced by everything Greek, which the rest of the Halle clan loves so much.

Now I want to wish you all a good month (kalo mina) and a good Easter (kalo Pascha) because next week there will be no story (I think) and I will keep mine at home like everyone else should be doing right now with the Coronavirus hanging over our heads. It will undeniably be a very different Easter this year, but certainly also an Easter we will all remember for many years to come.

Watch out for yourselves -  take care of each other and stick together by keeping your distance.