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Her little boy, Tibor, was the only nephew my sisters and brother had. You can imagine how much love he got from all of us! He wasn’t sure whom he loved most; was it his aunts, his mother, his father or his grandparents? However, his favorite was my father – at least this is what Tibor claimed.
At the age of 13, boys become members of the community. In Israel, girls celebrate this event too. The custom requires the child to hold a speech and say farewell to his childhood. So Tibor thanked his parents for raising him and, when he got to my father – even now, remembering this makes me cry – the poor child was overwhelmed with emotion: ‘As for you, Grandpa – we all used informal ways of addressing in our family – I don’t know how to say good-bye to you...’ And the child was unable to go on; he hugged his grandfather and they were both crying, and the whole audience was crying, there were many people present, because my mother had organized a feast.
This was Tibor. He didn’t try to flatter people; he just expressed his feelings as they were. He would come to us, kiss us, give us a hug, saying, ‘Oh, I love you so much!’, and he made sure everyone got an equal share of his love.
The boy was still in Aghiresu even when we were no longer there. He stayed with his grandparents and he went to elementary school there. We lived in the countryside, so we had hens, chickens, geese, dogs and the likes of them.
At the age of 13, boys become members of the community. In Israel, girls celebrate this event too. The custom requires the child to hold a speech and say farewell to his childhood. So Tibor thanked his parents for raising him and, when he got to my father – even now, remembering this makes me cry – the poor child was overwhelmed with emotion: ‘As for you, Grandpa – we all used informal ways of addressing in our family – I don’t know how to say good-bye to you...’ And the child was unable to go on; he hugged his grandfather and they were both crying, and the whole audience was crying, there were many people present, because my mother had organized a feast.
This was Tibor. He didn’t try to flatter people; he just expressed his feelings as they were. He would come to us, kiss us, give us a hug, saying, ‘Oh, I love you so much!’, and he made sure everyone got an equal share of his love.
The boy was still in Aghiresu even when we were no longer there. He stayed with his grandparents and he went to elementary school there. We lived in the countryside, so we had hens, chickens, geese, dogs and the likes of them.
Period
Location
Aghiresu
Romania
Interview
Elza Fulop
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