What a surprise! 

The president of Germany, Angela Merkel enjoyed my book and sent me a „thank you“ letter.

Finally I could cross the border and visit one of my favorite places in the world.
The „Happy Fountains“ in Bern, Switzerland.
10 years I have been taking pictures there. Over 200.000!
From kids playing in the fountains.
It is my fountain of joy.

This time was different. No water.
The fountains are resting this year because of the crisis.

In the picture behind me, there should be the action.
But no, nothing this year.

The memories are there. I was remembering my time sitting there.
All the adventures I experienced. It brought a smile to my face.

Also that experience today, made me remember an important quote:

„We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone.“

I have appreciated it in the past. But now even more.
Once the fountains resume, I will appreciate them even much more. Promise!

See you soon, Happy Fountains.

Today on my daily run, it started raining. Wonderful!
I came home and took some pictures and looked for a fitting quote.

There were two quotes which spoke to my heart:

“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.”

“Don’t confuse your path with your destination. Just because it’s stormy now doesn’t mean that you aren’t headed for sunshine.”

Pretty good, but I kept on looking for a better one, until it hit me:

"I ran my fastest marathon in the rain."

This quote fits to my life story. I ran 10 Marathons in my life.
The fastest in Los Angeles, where it was raining all the time.
Still until today, I haven’t broke my own record.

I am very proud about this race in the rain. From 23.000 runners I was on place 1950.
1949 runners faster than me. And 20.050 runners slower than me.
Especially proud, because I had a bad episode in my life, where there was no hope.
All I was thinking about was to get high, to forget my pain and reality.
My parents tried to motivate me. I couldn’t even run 100 meters.

I almost forgot. Today the rain and the quote, remembered me!
And I am happy to share this story with you.

No matter what your situation is, it can be better. Much better.

I wish that my story, if you experience some rain right now, will bring you a bit of sunshine.