Aurelia Caragiu (11/27/1932 - 2/2/2022), quick notes to self, thinking about the early years:
In grade school, she taught me calligraphy, encouraged me to write summaries (I liked that, so I moved on recursively, writing summaries of summaries and so on in a convergent process to the essential - if any), bought me popular Science books on Christmas, pretended not to notice that I stole some old physical chemistry textbooks from the cellar - writing summaries in the fashionable student notebooks that I loved, but most importantly she progressively pretty much allowed me to do whatever I wanted (including me going with other kids in the neighborhood to walk in the park, play football, or catch tiny fish in the central lake - even if that resulted in some cuts on my feet).
Her letting me go was an act of both love, pragmatism, and sacrifice since I was not the only child and the others had really pressing needs at times (about that, later - anyway it could have gotten really complicated).
In the middle school, again, she gave me lots of freedom - and I greedily took it all - so I went to various clubs, museums, movies, walks, stayed late in the municipal library, etc. There was no turning back, but her love and sacrifice for all of us will not be forgotten. In a sense I am still processing this at a deeper level.
