November 6
Twelve days left in America and everything I do, particularly the most mundane events of the day … such as going to the grocery store on Sunday morning to get milk for His Holiness (can’t do in Germany), listening to Click and Clack the Tap-it Brothers on the “Car Talk” radio show while driving nowhere (can’t do in Germany), calling my brother on Saturday morning to meet for a quick cup of coffee at the corner café (can’t do in Germany) … all these little things are taking on added significance. I am trying to pay attention to it all. Writing this blog is part of the process of observing my world more closely.
And then there is His Holiness … he is the constant. It is the smell of his skin, the softness of his small fingers, the first sound of his voice each day calling me to pick him up from his crib and carry him into the living room where he often sits with me quietly while I finish my early morning tappings here at the keyboard. The hope is that his life will be better there … our lives … in the Old world … We are unimpressed with the New world, feel lost in it at the same time that we know it best. It is no longer a place we love, although there are things about it we will miss terribly.
What will we say when he is old enough to ask why?
And then there is His Holiness … he is the constant. It is the smell of his skin, the softness of his small fingers, the first sound of his voice each day calling me to pick him up from his crib and carry him into the living room where he often sits with me quietly while I finish my early morning tappings here at the keyboard. The hope is that his life will be better there … our lives … in the Old world … We are unimpressed with the New world, feel lost in it at the same time that we know it best. It is no longer a place we love, although there are things about it we will miss terribly.
What will we say when he is old enough to ask why?
posted by Berlinbound at 12:53 PM
5 Comments:
So beautifully composed. Keep these words and give them to him and he will cry tears of happiness that his family loved him so much, that's why.
Okay, it's not your car but if it's important to you, you can get NPR. There is on-line streaming but you can also get it as part of an expanded cable package or with a satellite dish. So never fear - you do not have to live without Click n Clack (though you might have to be stationary while listening from now on)
Some European radio stations carry Car Talk and other NPR programming. Capital FM in Helsinki, Finland for example. So check out your local radio stations and even the shortwave - although online streaming on NPR's website may be easier.
Why? Tell him you were looking for a better life than you felt the US could provide. That's my reason.
Yes, it's the little things I really miss, the things I took for granted when I had them at my fingertips.
As for your son asking why, I guess you'll just have to cross that bridge when you come to it.
Now that our children are old enough to think critically and weigh the pros and cons of things, they often ask why in the world we're living here. Hard for us to explain to them that as much as we'd love to move, we can't just pick up and leave.
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