After many years of thinking about it
2009 was at last the perfect year
to make it real and hit the road
back to the Republic of Lithuania.

It was the year
in which the 1000th anniversary
of the first mentioning
of the name "Lietuva" took place.

To celebrate the occasion
the capital Vilnius was chosen
as the European capital of culture
for that very same year.

There was also a personal reason
for the extended family
to choose that very year
as it was the 90th anniversary
of the birth of both
Riva (Rivka) and Yasha(Yaakov).

for more on that click here

It is interesting to note
that by reversing the shortened '09
one gets the number 90.
The age both would have been that year.

Last but not least
that year was also
the 100th anniversary
of the foundation of Tel Aviv
The city the Machtas family
had chosen as their new home.

for more on that click here

So all in all
from the family point of view
as well as of both
Tel Aviv and Lithuania
2009 was indeed the perfect year
to have a go
and make it real !