France, 1944. As the Allies land on the shores of Normandy, an unlikely friendship strikes up between Levi Ackerman, a widowed French Jew, and Eren Jäger, a deeply-in-the-closet lieutenant in the German Wehrmacht. The two deal with love, loss, digni...
On April 30th, I got a call from my sister that our mother had suddenly passed away from a massive heart attack. I hopped on a plane as soon as I could and flew 2000 miles back to Arkansas. I've been helping my dad, who had a stroke a few years ago, and my little sister, who has cerebral palsy. My mother was their caretaker, so losing her is a huge blow to our family.
Between sorting through the "organized chaos" my mother had for all of her bills, calling insurances, lawyers, banks, and working with my siblings to plan the funeral, I truly have not had time to be on a computer for more than a few minutes. Even this note took me two weeks to write, getting little bits in at a time.
Dealing with all this right around Mother's Day is extra rough on one's emotions, getting bombarded with advertisements on sales, BUY THE PERFECT GIFT FOR YOUR MOTHER, all while trying to arrange when to pick up her ashes and arguing with people about creating a headstone so we can properly bury her. It's hard to focus on anything not related to my family right now. I know it's normal to not be in the right headspace at a time like this, but that doesn't mean the surreal feeling, shock, and disconnection between the strong person I need to be for my family's sake and the fragile person breaking down deep inside isn't very disconcerting.
So please, be patient with me.
I want all of you to call someone you haven't spoken to in a while. Just two days before that dreadful call, I was thinking, "I haven't talked to Mom in weeks. I should call her on Sunday and see if she needs anything for Mother's Day." I didn't get the chance, and not getting to hear her voice one last time really weighs heavy on me right now.
So please, go tell someone how much you love them. Then tell me in the comments who you spoke to. That will cheer me up, simply knowing that I could bring a bit of joy to both you and someone who means a lot to you. Never take your loved ones for granted, even those who seem so strong, because you truly never know when you'll lose them.
Take care, be safe, and stay healthy.
Now, onto the chapter.
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Eren looked at the bloody paper filled with numbers like it was possessed with a ghost from his past.
His father's cipher!
Was his father alive?
No. One other person could possibly know about this cipher.
Zeke!
Magath looked intrigued. "Your father had his own cipher?"
"It wasn't much," Eren muttered, still in shock. "More like a game."
Memories of a happier past flooded into his mind: his mother's gentle smile as she handed over a letter addressed to Eren and postmarked in some British city, the eagerness as he got to solve one of these puzzles, his determination to write back using the same cipher, and how proud he felt when his father returned and praised him.
