Saturday, May 15th, 1999
And so the day finally came for us to begin our journey to Holland. I've been so excited for so many months. Brent, Kim and Jenny brought me to the airport and then I started to get nervous. I cried with every little word anyone said to me. After we boarded the plane, I instantly settled down. We flew to San Francisco with the intent of flying from there to Amsterdam. While we were waiting in line to check in, the airline asked if anyone would consider re-routing their flight. If we would, we would get a $600 flight voucher. We all agreed to take them up on their offer. We flew to Vancouver BC, then from there to Amsterdam.
Sunday May 16th
The only problem was, our arrival time in Amsterdam was two hours later. Hans called our cousin Fritz to let him know and the airline said they notified our brother Rick (Rick lives in Colorado and flew out from there). When we arrived in Amsterdam, everyone was waiting. By "everyone", I mean several of my cousins that I had never met before. The greeting was a moment I will never forget. When I saw this group of people, though I'd only met one of them before, they ALL looked so familiar to me. I had this overwhelming feeling that I was coming home.
Straight from the airport, we went to our hotel. We ate at the hotel restaurant and although I had never been one to like fish much, I decided that on this trip, I was going to be brave and try different things. So, I ordered the swordfish and I must admit, it was delicious.
The first thing my mom wanted to do was to go see her sister in law (my Tante Pietje) so after dinner, my cousin's wife Jeanaa (pronounced Shauna), her son Marco and his girlfriend picked us up and took us to the retirement center where she lives. Tante (aunt) Pietje was waiting for us by the elevator and we all recognized her except for mom. Mom had macular degeneration so her eyesight was not that great but as she passed, the woman in the chair said "Daag, mfrau" (good day, ma'am) and out of courtesy, mom repeted it back and kept walking. We all started to laugh and finally mom caught on. We visited with Tante Pietje for about an hour and a half and when we were leaving, she gave us all a little tin with snoepjes (candies).
This is one of the painting that Tante Pietje has hanging in her room. My grandfather, Friedrich Johannes Wempe,my mom's dad painted this and several others. I personally have some of his paintings hanging in my own home as well.
1 comment:
It was so clever of you Terrie to write everything down! I wish that I would have thought of that on past trips. I think that it was neat that you had so many relatives to greet you at the airport! I would have felt overwhelmed in a good way.
I enlarged the painting that your grandfather painted. He was quite talented! I can't wait to hear more Terrie! Love Di
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