Back from Memory-Lane

I am back – mostly. Today, I’ll still take the day off (after all, it’s my birthday) but tomorrow, I will get back to work. It’s been a very good summer holiday. Middle Girl looks like a brown egg with a white feather on top, and even Wee Girl’s delicate freckled skin developed a bronze tone (and no sunburn!).

The undersized woman in the red bathing suit, that’s me. *grin*

What impressed me most during our trip were the differences to what I remembered. The vicarage we used to live in during holidays when I was a kid still looked the same but was in better repair. The house was newly painted, the once dusty yard had been cobbled, and there was a new road around the church. The biggest difference however was in the people. The streets and beaches were as busy and teeming with life as in my childhood, and there were as many naked bathers as I remembered (the GDR was famous for their FKK (=naked) culture), but people were much more open. Friendships developed easily between my kids and others on the beach (something that rarely happened when I was there). We drew smiles when I herded the kids together for filming (our summer project is a short fantasy film this year). Of course, no soldiers showed up to confiscate the camera either.

For me, the world has become a better place regardless how difficult it is for my country to truly reunite and forgive the past.