Back Home for a Few Weeks

As mentioned before, I suffer from flight anxiety and twenty-four hours before a flight l need to start prepping my mind. I avoid disaster words in conversations and avoid reading disaster stories in the news. There is no train across the Atlantic and the flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco cannot be avoided. But we did have one advantage on this flight, we were flying business class. This is a luxury we don’t usually participate in, however in one of our moments of despair during the covid lock down we purchased two return tickets business class to Frankfurt. Tickets were cheap and we could not resist. We could not travel on the dates we had bought the tickets due to covid restrictions. We could change the date, but the airlines did not permit a refund. We changed and sadly had the same problem a few months later. We changed again, and this time we were charged. Two years passed and the tickets began to look like an antique picture taped to the wall. Once we had accepted the job in Berlin, we changed the tickets again. This time the charge for changing was high and sadly the once cheap tickets turned out to be the most expensive cross-Atlantic tickets we had ever bought.

Regardless of price and being business class the plane journey from Frankfurt back to San Francisco still bounced and I still had anxiety issues. But the one thing that was different was the air hostess. Business class buys you a lot of personal attention. The air hostess that was serving the section I was sitting in had dyed bright red hair. Once I had settled into my seat she peered into my face and with a Zen meditation voice she said:

“We are meant to be where we are. I was on standby and did not get the call for this flight until all the crew was on board. But here I am. I’m here, you are here. And I have just what you need. A cup of happiness, relaxation tea,” she smiled tapped my arm and disappeared to get the tea. What I did need was a Bloody Mary. I find one Bloody Mary at the beginning of the flight does the trick. Now I was stuck with happiness tea. She returned:

“You will feel the magic very soon. I am meant to be here for you today.”

Peter looks at me and raises his eyebrows, quietly sipping his Bloody Mary.

“Enjoy the tea.” he commented.

After spending two weeks celebrating my daughter’s wedding, catching up with friends and enjoying family, I knew it was time to think about returning to Europe. I had become an ostrich with my head deep in the sand regarding returning to Berlin. The thought of a freezing winter with Siberian winds sounded awful. Berlin was interesting, but we had seen it and I did not particularly want to live there for the winter. I had asked Peter to give me two weeks off when we first got back to the States before we talked about our return. The two weeks were up, and he stood at the door to my study.

“Just want to show you something.”  Oh no, I thought, here comes the pictures of romantic snow and ice scenes, people ice skating on ponds with happy frozen smiles, couples throwing gentle snowballs at each other without their hands freezing to a complete numbness, which mine do in the cold. I wanted to bury my head deeper into the sand, but his phone was in front of my nose. Which is totally ridiculous as I cannot see anything that close. I pushed the phone to the point where I was able to focus.

“Where is that?”

“Florence.”

“Why are you showing me a picture of Florence?”

“We enjoyed Italy and wanted to spend more time there. There are direct flights from Pisa, 50 minutes by train from Florence to Berlin daily. I can fly there every few weeks and the rest of the time work virtually. What do you think six months in Florence?”

I knew in my heart that it was both of us that had agreed to him taking the job. This was a ‘stand by your man moment’.  We needed to return to at least being closer to Berlin than San Francisco and this was an interesting way to approach the second half of the adventure.

“What is the weather like during the winter?” I asked.

“January – Berlin 28, Florence 52.” He was prepared for the question I would ask. How predictable we have become to each other only after 8 years of marriage. I could feel myself poking one eye out of the sand. “An apartment for 6 months. Base ourselves in one place. Can we cheat and have an agent find the apartment?”

“Yes.” We smiled at each other and agreed to research the topic that evening.

I began to think about the lighter winter clothes we would need instead of the artic gear needed for a Berlin winter. Boots, which I love to wear and my long winter coat. We had taken them to Berlin, but sensing we did not want to return, we decided to bring everything back with us. One suitcase was shipped. The case had all our winter clothes inside. Thinking the case must have arrived when I was out, I asked:

“Peter, which closet did you hang the winter clothes in?”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.” I investigated his face; it was obvious I was not going to like this moment.

“When we left the hotel, after arranging for the hotel to ship the suitcase, the porter gave the suitcase to the post office and not the DHL service we had planned to use. After two weeks, I found it strange that I had not heard anything, so I contacted them. I tried to get the suitcase back to be resent by DHL, but it had been sent to the Frankfurt post office and was being held by customs. I could not get it back.”

“Will I ever see my winter clothes again?”

“I heard yesterday that it was en route.”

There is something about the word post office that creates an image in my mind of snails slowly walking across the United States with my suitcase on their back. I was not optimistic that my winter clothes would arrive before we left or for that matter, ever arrive again.

“Maybe we should consider living a bit further south where we won’t need coats?” I asked.

He ignored my comment and instead said:

“I have discovered a new word to describe our existence: coddiewomple. It means to travel purposefully toward an as-yet-unknown destination.”

I pulled my head out of the sand and smiled. I knew it was time for us to get ready for the second half of our adventure.