Mom and Dad Take Berlin!

Mom and Dad Take Berlin

There I was, waiting in the Berlin Tegal airport awkwardly holding a too-big bunch of roses and wrestling with knots in my stomach. I was nervous...sick-to-your-stomach nervous. I was over an hour early, dressed "to the nines", and pacing in front of the arrival gate. I had checked and double checked the flight status and the bus route to get to the airport. I had precisely calculated how long the bus ride would take to the airport so that I would arrive well in advance of the flight. I contemplated having a coffee, but decided it would do nothing to calm my nerves. While packing, I noticed that the flight had been delayed half an hour. This, too, did nothing to calm my nerves.

Was I preparing for a reunion with a long-lost friend, meeting my husband after a long time apart, prepping for a job interview, meeting the Pope? Nope. Nothing of the sort. My parents were coming to visit. (Insert "dun dun DUNnnnnn" here!)

After a nearly a year of living in Berlin, Mom and Dad had made the trip overseas from North Carolina to Berlin to visit me and my family. I had been looking forward to this day for months, and I had imagined them being in Berlin so many times. I had planned things for us to do, and prepared a short list of things I'd like to show them. What I did not plan for, however, were my nerves. I was surprised at how nervous I was before their arrival, and looking back, I know I just wanted their approval, and I hoped so desperately that they would love our life and the city that we now call home. I wanted to hear "well done" and "you've made a good choice", and to be reassured that all of the struggles and efforts of the past year were worthwhile.

After the eternity of waiting, they finally arrived, and I saw them through the glass that divides the newly arrived from the rest of the airport world, and I was astounded to see them looking put together, and dare I say, rested? I expected them to be a mess, a falling apart, exhausted mess of matted hair and bad breath and waxy skin and floating-on-the-surface emotion that I always am after an international flight. Instead, they looked down right perky and ready to tackle Berlin. After hugs and welcomes (and no, no one cried) we boarded a taxi together to head to our neighborhood. The feeling was surreal. My parents were a part of my world at "home" in North Carolina, and seeing them in Berlin took some getting used to.

I was ready to draw maps for them from their hotel three blocks down the road to my apartment. I was ready to hold hands and coax them from place to place. I was ready to explain things to them like people do when they talk a bit too loudly to someone who they know speaks another language, in hopes it might help. But I had to do nothing of the sort. After their overnight flight, they went to their hotel room, and I expected to get a call several hours later, hearing complaints of jet lag and exhaustion. Instead, one short hour passed, and my doorbell rang. They had walked down to my apartment and were ready to see what there was to see.

Mom and Dad in front of the Brandenburg Gate

Over the next two weeks, we traveled around Berlin, saw the tourist sites, ate traditional German food, but most importantly, I showed my parents my everyday life here. They figured out the bus system without difficulty, made trips to the grocery store, traveled alone, took the boys to school and picked them up with ease. Now, the trip wasn't completely without a few fun mishaps, including Mom ordering not one, but three bowls of ice in a restaurant, much to the amusement of the other diners, and Dad getting a bit overly paranoid about the gypsies roaming around Alexanderplatz..."look, there's one...look, isn't that one??!" But overall, I learned that I have a lot to look forward to.

My parents weaved themselves seamlessly into the fabric of Berlin, complete with its diversity and history and cultural hang-ups. They arrived with open arms and open minds, and they tasted Berlin at its finest. I was so proud of them, and I can only hope that when my children are grown, I can visit them in another country with the same attitude and unquenchable thirst for adventure and experience that  my parents showed here. My nerves calmed, and in end the end, I realized maybe I didn't need their approval as much as I thought. I really just wanted to see them experience some of what I have experienced, and to have a great time while doing so. Mission accomplished!

In front of Berliner Dom

Yeah, I've got some big shoes to fill!