My grandmother turned 94 this year. I love her. She is and always was stubborn. But I guess this stubbornness gives here the energy to live. She also has a longing to be with people which can never be fully satisfied. When you ask her about her life she normally tells you, she was on her own a long time, that she lost her parents when she was 16. Her husband was gone during the war while she was still so young. She lost an eye when she was around 17. I always get somehow this image that she was really on her own big parts of her life.
As I’m going to be out of the country again I wanted to take her out on a special trip. Despite her age she still is out a lot and I admire her energy. But of course there are certain limits what she can do on her own, so she was happy when I proposed a trip to the Czech Republic to her. Her parents moved to Vienna before the turn of the century and she was born here, but the ties to the family still living in the “old home land” stayed strong. Before the separation by the iron curtain their was actually quite a lot of interaction. She managed to stay in contact with her relatives by mail and by phone, but they hardly ever meet. I couldn’t remember to have met any of those relatives on her side.
When Momo, Aundrea and I left for Mikulov (Nikolsburg) a small border town, I didn’t have any specific plans what to do. I knew it was important for my grandmother to go one more time to the Czech Republic, but beside that it was really a “let’s go there and see what comes up”. However, when we arrived in Mikulov (the place were she received her first kiss) she decided to call her last living cousin and although it was a bit spontaneous, Jirka and his family, living roughly 40 km further away in Lužice had time for a visit.
I didn’t expect such an emotional reunion but when my grandma and Jirka saw each other again, it was a moment I’ll never forget. Both so happy, both in disbelieve that they are actually reuniting again after over eight years not seeing each other. We then spend the good part of a day learning about my grandmother and her families past, visited the places were she spent her summers as a baby and I realized that there was so much family on her side, I never really new about – her mum had five brothers and sisters.
It was a beautiful day with Momo, Aundrea and our relatives in the Czech Republic! Thank you 😉
