Letter from Lou Andreas-Salomé to Freud, May 6, 1936

[Göttingen, on 6 May 1936]

Dear Professor Freud,*

Before the great flood of correspondence bursts upon your birthday, I come shyly and apart—without having any idea how to convey to you what this occasion means to me. But ever since I knew from Anna that you were already in the country [in Grinzing] my thoughts have been with you there. Surely the weather there will be fine, and not the horrible weather we have been having in more westerly regions, such as here and down as far as Lake Constance—we heard that it was not so bad in the easterly [i.e., Austrian] parts. From last summer the trees and garden will now be old friends.

But Anna wrote of great and unexpected worries through your sister-in-law's eye trouble and the pain she suffered after the operation. I hope that she is now long recovered and fully able to join in the celebrations of 6 May. It is a real pleasure to hear that your son will be there too—I have learnt from Anna the reason for his visit, that he is to do the interior decoration for your new premises, every detail of which will be of lasting interest to you. And the best of all your presents has come from Anna with her book,231 which was ready after all in time. She described in so many words how your constant encouragement had overcome her hesitation! For me it is distressing indeed that I can only learn its contents when I can have it read aloud to me in small portions—and who knows when that will be. But how I am already looking forward to that time!

I have nothing further to tell of my life here. Along with my natural physical decline I live an almost leisurely existence, both with my little family232 and also with the two people who are so close to me and who bring such happiness into my life.233 I have often told Anna about them. But it is almost impossible to describe such things in writing without having the personal contact we used