Inspiration

The inspiration for Pauline's family love of doll-making....

How do you say 'I love you' when you don't have the words? Let me tell you.

Just before my father was leaving to serve in World War II, he put on his dashing white captain's uniform and took my hand for a special walk through town -- just the two of us. The streets of Jakarta, Indonesia were filled with soldiers respectfully saluting and I was so proud to be my father's daughter. As we entered the toy store, he said I could choose only one present but it could be absolutely anything. I chose a doll named Emma and it was a day I will never forget.

Three years later, Emma came to mean even more. By then our family was divided into various concentration campes across Asia. Emma became my ray of sunshine. She wiped away my tears of hunger, listened to my mother's picturesque stories of Holland and even concealed pieces of my mother's heirloom jewelry. Yes, Emma was everything to me -- a treasure in very sense.

Then, just as the War was ending in 1945, something truly terrible happened. Mother and I were in a Red Cross hospital, too sick to care for my baby sister Trudy. To help, a kind nun offered to keep her at a convent in the mountains. Unbelievably, their departing train was bombed by saboteurs and Trudy was lost in the ensuing chaos. Our family was shipped to Holland but my father continued looking for Trudy, searching for an entire year in the wilds of Indonesia.

Finally a telegram arrived, saying "Trudy found - safe and sound - coming home - Love, Pa." After six long years of separation, everyone would soon be together again! Waiting all those months for Trudy to sail across the ocean became the longest wait of my life. What if she didn't want to come home? I wrote and promised her Emma.

Trudy arrived looking so grown up and different! "Hi Pauline! Where's Emma? You promised!" We all breathed a joyous sigh of relief. Trudy was back -- the same lively Trudy we all knew and loved. There was so much I wanted to say as I gently placed Emma in Trudy's arms and learned a lesson that changed my life. Emma was not merely a toy. She was a miraculous gift. With one simple embrace, Trudy understood as Emma spoke for me, saying, I love you....welcome home!