Intangible Treasures

Their stories were so formative, so influential, and so big. As a little girl, I had no context for chronology or history, but they stuck anyway, lodging deep into my core and forming an identity so unique from the neighborhood friends we were blessed to grow up with. I always felt different. It wasn't the color of my skin or a language barrier, just an understanding that my family was from a very different place, we ate very different food, and my relatives were very far away. As we grew up, my siblings and I would frequently remark to our parents that someone needed to put all those stories in writing. But as life has a way of drowning out the best intentions, no one did...until now. So for the sake of our children and grandchildren, to preserve Anyu and Apu's stories for generations to come, here is their narrative, with the added dimension of a bit of Hungary's extraordinary history beginning in the 1600s. May the stories of Aladar and Xenia Wieland deliver the intangible wealth of identity, inspiration and strength to you, my dear reader.