Greek Coffee

At seventeen she was captured, interrogated, and tortured for six months. She never broke. Had she, an entire village would have been slaughtered. Three years later, in 1945, she walked out of Ravensbruck. I looked back to understand that I was empowered by Faith, motivated by Hope, held together by my Greek family, and emboldened by my grandmother's undaunted spirit and her timeless anecdotes. My Yiayia's divine gift to see the motivations in men's hearts, to unmask the past and spy the future in the coffee grinds of a Greek coffee cup, altered my perceptions forever. I lived a life through her cups. And now, for the first time, at thirty-two, I have tasted freedom.