What do you say when words are not enough?

So many unbelievable things are happening. One is that we can, unfortunately I think sometimes, still listen to the Irish news from Hamburg.

Irish property developer Sean Dunne who filed for bankruptcy last year in the US with debts of $942 million (€690 million), and who has also been made bankrupt in Ireland, said he made a profit of €70 million selling 30 zoned acres at Woodtown in Rathfarnham, Dublin, in 2006 or 2007, according to today’s Irish Times. It was paid in “hard cash, brought in a suitcase,” he said. “You were joking about that? It was banked?” Nama’s lawyer Tom Curran asked. Mr Dunne said he didn’t know what he did with the money – he could have bought more property, given some to his wife, paid off debt or spent some on a holiday or a new car.

Pádraig is getting fitter. You wouldn’t think that someone in his still not-so-good condition could even train or being coached. But he is, both training and being coached. There is no way that he would have been able to go through physio, speech therapy, music therapy, a new approach in his respiratory therapy using an EzPAP (increasing the pressure in his airways to open up his lungs), followed by a few hours in the viva-la-Thekla – just a few weeks (day!) ago, as he did today. He held his head up high for a few seconds without any support, and did really well swallowing. There are so many people really doing more than their best to mobilize him, getting him to breathe better, to swallow, to connect back with his body. So many people believing in him, convinced that he will show us that a young, determined, and fit young man can produce miracles. Not the kind of one second apparitions, but the ones that take a bit of time to happen, and then stay with us forever.

After a really tough morning, he closed and opened his hand for Pat when she asks him to do so, he took her hand and lifted it up to his chest. This morning, this was another first, he held up his head for a few seconds when sitting out; this afternoon, he was still able to hold his head straight with very little support for a few minutes at a time.

Sometimes, words are not enough to describe how I feel. When things are going really well, the joy, the hope, the boost of energy. Sprachlos.

Today’s German Music Tip
Bläck Fööss, Männer (1989). This group is not everybody’s cup of tea, but the ‘a cappella’ version of this song, one of my all-time favorites, is not bad. The original version, by Herbert Grönemeyer (1984), is always worthwhile listening to! – Watch the keyboard player wearing boxing gloves:)

“Männer haben Muskeln,
Männer sind furchtbar stark,
Männer können alles,
Männer kriegen ‘nen Herzinfakt,
ohh Männer sind einsame Streiter
müssen durch jede Wand, müssen immer weiter.”

What could anybody add to this? 🙂

Today’s Second German Music Tip (special for our Irish friends:)
Bono (!) and Grönemeyer, Mensch (Rockgipfel Rostock 2007, parallel to the G8 meeting in Heiligendamm, in Northern Germany. Watch 4m30s: “Frau Merkel, halt Dein Versprechen, keep your promise”) – Both, Bono (!) and Grönemeyer, singing in German.

What’s hot
Fitness Coaches
What’s cold
Letting go
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Sprachlos

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