We drove to Hannover from Karlsruhe on Saturday. It was sad to say good bye to Tante Elfrieda. I had not seen her since I was 17. The last few times I had visited my mother and her were not getting a long and therefore I did not visit. In any case, she gave us $200.00. My mom was disappointed, she was hoping that I would get more because Yoshe got $500.00 for her wedding and I did not get anything. She is one of our wealthy relatives through marriage, her partner is deceased now. In any case, my mom commented that she is getting frugal with old age. Tom said we did not go there for the money and it was still nice to see them. I was a bit disappointed though, because it is the twin thing that Yoshe got more than I did. I guess this does not go away the older we get, we just learn to handle our emotions better and not always let it affect the relationship.
That night, we packed and had a nice dinner. My favorite, schnitzel, white asparagus which we do not have in Canada and mashed potatoes. Christian is an amazing cook, he is thorough and therefore takes a lot of time to do it correctly. I put Markus to bed and mom and I talked for a bit, I was trying not to cry as I do not know when I will see her again. Although, Yoshe is having her baby on December 13th, I do not think mom will be able to make it. Yoshe will go to Germany before mom has a chance to visit here.
We left for the airport very early in the morning. Thankfully, I bathed Markus and got him all dressed and ready the night before so it would not take much hassle to get him ready, I did the same for myself. I could not sleep that night at all. I was the first to wake on Sunday morning, it was 5am. I dressed and shortly after mom came out and we got coffee and breakfast ready. Christian showered and then I woke Tom up for breakfast. Markus was still sleeping. We packed breakfast for him, we did not want to wake him. After breakfast, I woke Markus and put him in the car for the long drive, along with all our luggage. I slept for a bit in the car. We left at 7am. We arrived at Frankfurt airport at 11:30. We made good timing. We checked in. We had a problem checking in because the woman could not figure out how to enter our information into the computer, she had to call for help while we stood there waiting and hungry. Finally, we went to Mcdonalds in the airport. While we were standing in line, I looked next to me and to my surprise, I could swear I saw Pete, my first real boyfriend. We dated back in high school. Our entire relationship ended when I started college, so we were off and on for about 4 years. He cheated on me and I could not forgive. The last words I said to him as my sister and I were driving home from his sister's house where we had been invited to his mother's 65th birthday were: Have a nice life! As my sister and I drove off, we saw him in the car next to us at a red light. He gave me a sad look and shook his head in sorrow and my sister said: I think he really did love you Tanja. The past is the past, I am married with a son and he is divorced, remarried with a son as well. I don't think he recognized me. I was studying his side profile trying to figure out if it was him. He looked directly at me and looked away. It was when we were sitting down, that I saw his face look at me in shook as if studying my face and that is when I knew it was him. I was surprised to see him, I did not remember him being so tall. My hair was tied back. I looked horrible and he had never seen me with glasses. We never spoke, but I know he walked away thinking whether it was me or not, just the way I walked away as well.
I told my husband later about it. Anyway, I was so small in comparison to him, he looked so much older than me, even though he is not. I did not say a word to my mom. We cried at the gate saying good bye. Christian became teary eyed. I knew they would miss Markus dearly.
Tom was unemotional as usual. He just patted me on the shoulder and said "there there, we will see them again", he had a smirk on his face. In situations like this, he is useless.
Markus was up for the whole plane ride. It was awful. A man moved over to give Markus an extra seat. Markus could not sit still for the entire duration of the trip. Thankfully, there was this polish 5yr old sitting in front of us who kept looking back to entertain Markus. Markus fell asleep 5 minutes prior to landing.
Tom's parents picked us up at the airport. We were not very emotional with them, no smiles or warm embraces were exchanged because we were exhausted and just wanted to go home and sleep. Once at home, they left right away and we crashed. Markus slept until 3am. It would have been 9am Germany time. We woke up at that time, made coffee, fixed breakfast, watched tv until Tom had to get ready for work. So, we were up from 3am to 9:30 Monday night. So, now I think I am back on schedule, Canadian time. Soon, I will figure out how to post pictures on here. If anyone reads this and has an idea, please leave a comment.
I know this blog is pointless rambling, but it is for me and my experiences as a mother, traveller, worker, student, sister, daughter and friend. I also do not expect many people to read it and it saves me time to type on the computer rather than write in a journal the old fashioned way.
I have talked to my mother every day since being back. I tell her I miss having her make my coffee every morning for me and cleaning. Now, I have to make my own coffee "sigh".
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