It's about Life.
It's about Love.
It's about Loss.
It's about Family.
It's about Home.
It's about Adventure.
It's about Fun.
It's about Simplicity.
It's about What Matters Most.
It's about People.
And Places.
I grew up in the historic German city of Würzburg, with my parents, Susanne and Helmut, and three siblings, David, Annika, and Julian. I was the eldest of the four. We grew up in this small family unit without much immediate or extended family around. Roots in a particular place were not something that was part of the family fabric. So at the age of 16, I got on a plane for the very first time and left home with encouragement and support from my parents and a sense of excitement and adventure in my backpack. I never returned for more than a few weeks or months at a time.
For the next 16 years, I globetrotted, living in Ireland, Scotland, Portugal, England, and the United States. I got really good at packing suitcases, moving, and switching from driving on the left to the right side of the road and back again. My purpose in all of these places was education. While exploring countries and cultures I also acquired several degrees in Mathematics (BSc), Astronomy (MSc), and Physical Oceanography (PhD), as well as a Diploma in Secondary School Education.
After too many moves and airplane trips to count, I packed my suitcases again in 2009, this time to settle for a while in the beautiful US state of Vermont. I became part of another family, an Irish-Peruvian-American Family, the Donohue's. The next 10+ years were filled and continue to be filled with the stuff that all lives are made of: marriages, births, deaths, family, home, and work.
In 2009 I married my first husband, John Donohue, and our daughter, Klara, was born in August of 2011. A short three months later, in November 2011, John tragically and unexpectedly passed away. It was a big loss for the family, the community, and the many, many friends whose lives he had touched. Less than a year after that in October 2012, my father also sadly passed away while visiting us in Vermont. It was, needless to say, a difficult year. In 2018 I married my second husband, Matthew Webb, who became Matthew Donohue and who shortly thereafter adopted Klara. All my siblings are married now, have children, and have embarked on their own adventures. And those are just the major life events! There were so many other milestones that happened in the mix. Life has been busy!
When I left Germany, my youngest brother was only just 11. For much of our family life, I was apart, the big sister out in the world doing her 'thing', whatever that happened to be. Sharing the stuff of life can sometimes be hard with 1000s of miles of separation. Equally, friends come and go. They share part of the journey and then when you move to a new place, you are again a stranger to everyone. John's death has also made it all the more pressing for me to leave some record of my story and our story for Klara, so that she may look back and understand at least some parts of the journey.
So this is for her, for Klara, and for my family and friends. It is for anyone else who might find the stories interesting, entertaining, or helpful. It is for myself. It is in memory of John and my father.
No one will know unless you tell them!
It's about Stories.
It's about Sharing.
It's about Being Grateful.
Thank you for visiting, taking the time, and reading!
With much love,
Uli R. Donohue
Image: Practising my balance on the Outer Banks in North Carolina - September 24, 2009