Ingeborg M. Johnston has led an incredible life. She was born in pre-World War II Germany and was a young nurse in Berlin during the war -- it's a wonder she lived through all of the bombings. While her family survived the war, they were split apart when she went to America while her family stayed behind the Iron Curtain in Communist East Germany. Her brother was a prisoner of war with the Russians for several years. About a quarter or so of her autobiography -- The Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride -- is dedicated to this early part of her life.

While there were many WWII German war brides that came to the United States, Ingeborg has the distinction of becoming one of the first 10 to do so when she immigrated through New York in 1947. From this point, the individual tales start to jump around quite a bit. There are a few common threads that pop up occasionally. For example, Ingeborg learned to swim as a child. This was an activity that has remained a part of her life. In fact, being around the water, period, is a crucial element. She scuba dives. She has lived on a boat. She loves cruising. She loves adventure -- parachuting, flying trainer jets, sneaking across Communist borders. You know, just your common, ordinary, adrenalin-junkie stunts. All humor aside, she has done and experienced quite a lot!

Peppered throughout the book are random, one-off moments that Ingeborg has chosen to share. One of the funniest is how she won and subsequently lost a beauty pageant in Philadelphia in 1949. This was the early days of television and the story really comes across as a set-up for an I Love Lucy episode. I was grinning as Ingeborg describes her secondhand and homemade dresses and bathing suit. I was chuckling when she tells how her short stature and tanned skin was distorted by the black-and-white technology of the time. I was laughing out loud when she performed a "homemaker" task by putting "Ready Whip" on strawberry shortcake but it collapsed before the TV camera could pan to it. Ingeborg does not even seem bothered that she "won," then quickly lost the contest when it came out that she had only been a citizen for a few short years.

It is interesting sometimes to see how Ingeborg's memories change. The best example, perhaps, is how early in her life, she describes the Nazi party and how her dad was vehemently anti-Nazi, but she didn't care about politics either way. At some point, this changed, and she too remembers being anti-Nazi all along. However, most of her emotional focus in the book is on what she loves, not what she despised. Towards the end, she brings up something that truly brings her life meaning. It is important to do acts of kindness for others. She demonstrates how she has done this over the decades throughout the book and invites others to do the same. The world can be a better place. But it will take all individuals to make it so.

Johnston comes across as a very passionate individual. You can tell she loves life and she embraces every moment. Her great sense of optimism provides her with an energy to find the positive in almost everything she seems to take on. She is more active than a lot of folks half her age. Ingeborg is a very inspirational woman. Her tales will sometimes make your cringe, sometimes make you smile, and almost always give the reader a kick in the butt to get the most out of life -- we all know how short it is. And at just over 200 pages, The Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride is a short book. It is perfect for someone on the go who just has a snippet of time here or there to devote to a couple pages.