I wish I had something profound to share about the business community this week. Unfortunately, my mind has been elsewhere as my grandmother, Ilse Camis, passed away on Monday, Sept 7th at the age of 95. So while my 13-year old starts high school this week, I've been thinking about the challenges of another 13-year old - my grandma. I've been blessed that I haven't had to deal with a lot of death in my family for years, so of course this has brought on a lot of mixed emotions and reflection. And as I've read through papers and documents about her life, I'm blown away at what she went through, particularly as we struggle with the challenges our kids are facing in the current times. 

First let me say, problems or struggles or whatever you call them, are always relative. We can empathize, but we can never know what someone else is truly going through or has experienced. It's something I try to remind myself every time I want to say "Oh, I know how you feel" to my two daughters (Luciana, 7 and Gabriella, 13). So I try not to ever compare what I did (or didn't do) growing up, though that certainly doesn't always happen. However, this week learning and recalling what my grandmother went through as a kid, really puts into perspective the challenges of today. This isn't the "I walked to school through a blizzard, up hill both ways" type of story. It's rather amazing, but probably what lots of my grandparents and previous generations have experienced. 

• Ilse Camis (Gross), born in 1925 in Vienna Austria to Margarethe Kollman. Her father, Ignaz Gross, died in 1929 (cause unknown). She lived with mother for the most part, but she traveled a lot, so Ilse spent much time with grandparents Heinrich & Marie. In 1938 during Kristallnacht, at 12 years old, she realized things were really getting bad as she saw family beaten in the streets and lots of destruction. In May 1939, her Uncle Friedrich and grandparents put her on the Kindertransport to England (the Kindertransport moved approx. 10,000 children from Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia to safety in 1938-39). She went by herself, knowing no one really - at 12 years old. She never saw them again (they died at the Treblinka concentration camp). She lived in a hostel in England with approx. 20 other refugee girls, from babies to about 13 years old, most of whom lost their families as well. She was finally reunited with her mother a few years later. She worked as a librarian while there (at age of 18), eventually joining the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and serving as a flight mechanic toward the end of WWII. Then she met my grandfather, who she married in 1945. They actually had to elope to Scotland because you have to be 21 or have parents permission in England to marry and her mother would not give her permission. Eventually (1956) her and my grandfather and their two children moved to the U.S. and settled in Detroit. She eventually retired comfortably to Florida and spent years volunteering at the Temple and hospital, where at 94 years old she won Volunteer of the Year. 

I could certainly go on or fill in lots of little details, but I don't need to. I simply can't imagine doing all of this as a kid. Most adults would struggle. So today I sit here, both amazed and inspired. It makes me realize that kids are generally resilient and that the struggles they face today (remote learning, sports cancellations, lack of time seeing friends or too much time on their tablets, no beach vacations, etc.), while very real to them (and their parents I must say), will make them so much stronger down the line. So enjoy this week and remember that the challenges our kids are facing today might just prepare them for 95 years of life ahead.