Ich bin angekommen! (I have arrived!)

As I sit on the evening of my first full day back in “Middle-of-Nowhere, Bavaria”…aka Apfeldorfhausen…my twenty hour trek to get here is quickly becoming a distant memory. My two flights – Seattle to Atlanta and then Atlanta directly to Munich – were uneventful – which is a good thing! After retrieving my two large suitcases in the Munich airport, I proceeded to “P7/Ebene3” where it was rumored that our trusty Volvo station wagon would be waiting for me. I found it right where Darcy and Bill had left it after their March visit, and then proceeded to cross the next hurdle: trying to start the engine after three months sitting idle. The Volvo has a slight battery drain which we haven’t been able to locate…usually we disconnect the battery when the car’s going to sit for any period of time. David had forgotten to alert “the kids” to this procedure, so I was fully expecting to have to try to jump-start the car or if need be, yell “Hilfe, hilfe!” to the airport’s support staff! Mercifully however, there was just enough juice to enliven a momentarily sluggish engine, and so after paying the 210 Euro fee for three months’ parking, I was on my way down Autobahn 96, direction Lindau!!

I found the house in good order...thanks to friend and “groundskeeper” Wolfgang who stays here and maintains the place when we’re away. I forced myself to unpack my two suitcases before succumbing to the need to nap and then made sure that I rose after only a couple of hours, so as to adjust to the time change sooner rather than later.

I took delight in greeting my Bavarian neighbors: Annie, Christian, Meta, Hubert…and called good friend Adelheid (Wolfgang’s Austrian mother) with whom I’ll get together on a regular visit during my six week stay to continue our English lessons…with some German practice for me thrown in!

To pass the time until it was reasonable to turn in, I flopped on our couch and finally was able to watch Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation” – a documentary presenting the lives of several World War II veterans – detailing how they’d been forever marked by their war experiences and analyzing how that affected the raising of their families and influenced their world views as well as life choices. As I watched, an amazing coincidence presented itself. On the flight from Seattle to Atlanta I’d observed an elderly gentleman making his way down the aisle. What struck me about him was the light blue ribbon with a distinctive medal attached to it that he wore high under his necktie’s knot. I don’t think I ever would have thought of it again had not I watched “The Greatest Generation” later that very same LONG day! About midway through the program, Tom introduced one Robert E. Bush, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient from South Bend, Washington…and SURE ENOUGH…there stood the self-same man I’d encountered on my flight earlier that day! What are the chances?