Don't mess with my sister

Don't Mess With My Sister

Years ago my sister chopped a man's fingers off. Okay, they weren't completely off but dangling. She was a young adult living with girlfriends, and he was trying to break into her apartment. He was immediately arrested; a known rapist they had been looking to convict. He didn't get to my sister but she confirmed something I knew about her already;  she is one tough cookie.

Last week my Mom told me another story, this time a recent one from a few weeks ago. Another break in, the same sister but this time she went after the man with a snow shovel before the police arrived. Where other people would have panicked, she acted. 

As I was showing Amsterdam to a couple from Utah this weekend, we went rode past the Anne Frank house and I thought of her story. I then thought about fate, hardships and how we learn from them. I don't know how my sister survived 15 years in an orphanage and I don't know how Anne Frank survived so long up in that attic. 

If you grow up in an orphanage for a certain number of years, it has lasting effects and being tough, and a fighter is one of them. I would like to say growing up in my family has made me tough too. This Thursday I will tell you all about my own episodes in Bordeaux and Kiel. I didn't chop off fingers but ..... to be continued.

—Allison Ochs Social Worker M.S.W. , Coach, Expat, Mother of three, Wife