Today starts with me needing to pay homage to Master Jam Maker Klaus Engelhardt and his concoction of absolute perfection, the mighty apricot vanilla jam. If I didn’t take time to recognize this contribution that helps craft a perfect vacation for me, I’d be doing a disservice to how much this golden sweetness on my morning Brötchen shapes the day going forward. Sure, I love Grüne Soße (Frankfurt Green Sauce), and Spaghetti Eis is a delight, but apricot/vanilla jam is my Kryptonite. When a jar of this homemade wonder is brought to the table, Klaus knows by now to set it down near me, and while there are five other flavors nearby, it is this one that is exclusively found on my breakfast rolls. Knowing my love of it, he even sent us a jar last year but we’ve not opened it as what possible American bread could ever be worthy of this magnificence? Praise unto Klaus the Master Jam Maker of Frankfurt.
Early during our time in Germany, Caroline visited mystery friend C&#@%$a, and after my wife arrived back in Frankfurt from the place that shall not be named (due to the GDPR a.k.a. General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, which restricts me from divulging the identity of those I do not have permission to identify), I took a photo of Caroline holding a bag. Inside that bag was this portable spinning wheel from Louet, the Victoria.
We are busy repacking it as it now needs to travel with us back to Phoenix, Arizona, and we can’t be certain it’ll be allowed as a carry-on due to our “Light-Fare” ticket restricting us to travel with 8 kilogram (17.5 pounds) each with no checked bag paid for. We are quickly considering paying to have it travel as a checked bag, but Lufthansa and United have only allocated 75 minutes between connections in Washington D.C., and with a requirement to fetch a bag before moving through customs, we are at risk of missing our connecting flight. This kind of gambling only complicates travel, creating stress that detracts from finishing a vacation in perfection.
With our test packing done, it was time to beat feet down to Römer to collect Jutta and make our way, slowly, over to Zum Standesämtchen one more time for lunch.
There will never be enough time spent with those we’ve grown fond of and as Caroline and I age, our love, respect, and appreciation have matured for her mother, my mother-in-law. Maybe you assume love for one’s family is a natural thing. I don’t believe that. We’ve not chosen our family, and sometimes their or our flaws are so great that it’s easier to put distance between us while some gratuitous ideas of love demand that we find love for our parents, aunts, uncles, various relatives if people were honest, I think they’d also admit this is not a sure thing. As a matter of fact, neither Jutta nor I much appreciated each other in the first years we’d known each other, and while I’ve said as much in a previous blog entry or two, it bears repeating that our relationship these past 20-some-odd years has only grown stronger. I think the same goes for Caroline and her mother as each has seen the other in a new light where they understand one another now quite deeply. Today carries a bit of sadness with it as we must say goodbye for now, but I do hope we’ve shared enough laughs to carry Jutta through until we can return next year.
Lunch was brief, 90 minutes today, maybe the quickest we’ve shared with Jutta this trip. Things had to move fast as we had a 2:30 appointment for a COVID-19 antigen test, which, if it comes back negative, will allow us to travel to the United States tomorrow. If you think this is the face of pain, you’d be wrong. I’ve seen this face thousands of times, experiencing the ecstasy of pleasure, and I swear this is exactly what it looks like. Warning to Caroline: Edit this out or claim differently, and I’ll just put it back because you know this abrasive swab puncturing your skull and tickling your eyeball was one of the great thrills of this trip to your homeland. — NOT!
Just like Caroline’s face but different, this is Jutta’s face saying, “You better take great care of this beautiful daughter of mine, or else!” You can tell by how effectively she pulls this look of stink eye that she wants me to fully understand my responsibility to love and look after Caroline. Don’t worry, my sweet mother-in-law; I love this daughter of yours with all my heart.
Our time with Jutta today was only a brief four hours, and of course, it’ll never feel like enough, but we need to go. Big big hugs for you, Jutta; it’s always great to see you smile so warmly and listen to you share your appreciation for seeing us.
We retrieved our COVID test results to find we were both negative. With this bit of stress out of the way, we had some time to spare before meeting with Klaus and Stephanie for dinner, and so we wandered between the river, Römer, and uncertainty as we didn’t know where else we could go that would lend itself to any greater sense of having been in Frankfurt so the slow walk nowhere had to suffice. In our indecision to focus on a destination, we found that we could agree on visiting the cathedral, and that’s where we are.
My wife, who’s typically not superstitious in the least, spoke up as I shot this image and asked that it not follow a photo of her and Jutta since it would be weird to have an image about death following the two of them. So, I posted the photo above this one to put space between them. Then, as I think about this again, this is a monument to someone’s life using a skull we associate with death, but that doesn’t change the fact that this display is here in recognition of life.
I can only wonder what her prayer was, but I’m fairly sure she had some thought or other traveling through her mind as she made a donation and lit the candle.
Dinner tonight was at African Queen with Klaus and Stephanie. This place was packed, and rightfully so as the food was terrific. Nothing much else followed as final details needed to be dealt with before our flight tomorrow afternoon. Enough said.