Dena Kohleriter (DK): So what makes our family a little bit unique, is that I decided I wanted to have a child on my own, where I wasn’t married and I didn’t have somebody in my life at that time.

Jori Kohleriter (JK): I wanna know, what did you feel when you decided to have me?

DK: I had so many different emotions. At first I was worried. Would I be able to do it? I was kind of scared if I’d be able to have a kid on my own. And I worried about you. And would you be sad and feel like you missed out if it was just me? But then once I decided, it was just so clear to me that it was the right thing to do, and, you know, I gathered up all my courage and I just did it, and then I was proud of myself for doing it. I’m kind of wondering, I want to ask you, is it hard for you to not have a dad?

JK: Well, yes it can be hard. Some of the the questions can kind kind of annoying. 

DK: Like what types of questions?

JK: Like if I’m adopted, things like that.  

DK: Sometimes it’s hard to have to explain.

JK: Hmm. A lot of the time. I — I want to know, what was the best reaction when you decided to have me? 

DK: It was actually when I went and told my grandmother. Your grand bubbie. Your grand bubbie was 92 years old at the time. And she was a Holocaust survivor. And when I told her, what she said to me was, ’I’m thinking about my favorite aunt in the whole world, my Tante Roszi and she was magical and she didn’t get married until she was older. And she finally had this beautiful baby. And the Nazis came and they killed them. They wiped out my entire family in Austria. So I think that any time that our blood line can continue, is a slap in the face to those that would have seen us destroyed. So yes, you have my full support.’ And what she said to me too, I will never forget, she said, ’I don’t know how long I’ve got. I promise you one year.’ And she gave us exactly one year, which meant that she was there when you were born. And for those three months that she was still alive and you were an infant, you had lunch with her once a week where she would feed you your bottle and she would snuggle with you and she was so happy. And I remember that when we went to visit her in the hospital before she died and I was holding you and she pointed at you and then she pointed at herself and she said, ’This is the circle.’