Family Tree

When you were a kid, would you have hung around with a couple of strangers who called themselves family,   chatting for hours in a foreign language?  Or would you have, like we would have, spent the obligatory few minutes saying hello then left it to your parents to entertain the couple from the United States?

These German young people, Amy’s cousins, not only didn’t make excuses and leave, they hung out, told stories, listened to our stories, asked and answered questions and seemed genuinely interested in us.  Such good kids.  All eight of them, from 14 to 26 years of age.  Well there was one exception.  But he had a good excuse….he had to moderate a Social Democratic meeting.  If memory serves us right, the topic was raising taxes.  He’s for it.  We were impressed with all the kids, to say the least.

We spent two fabulous evenings with these distant relatives in and near Munich.  On the family tree, Amy is the same generation as these awesome kids.  Our great grandpas were brothers.  Amy’s great grandpa migrated to the US in the late 1800's.  Maybe the German cousins got all the polite behavior genes??  From musicians to a PhD student to a Prima Ballerina in the making to a future community leader all of the “kids” were not only pleasant conversationalists but also intelligent and self motivated. 
Their parents (and grandma Eva) are equally as incredible.  Our hats are off to them, even though they are humble about their kids, we know the influence they have over these rising stars. 

And they are generous hosts….treating us to Bavarian food, luscious desserts and wonderful conversation.

 
It was a real honor to see them again and have Steve get to know them.  We wish we didn’t live so far apart.  
It was another local encounter, this time of the family kind, that is making our journey better then we ever anticipated.  And, Hildegard gets special mention as she is keeping the entire clan straight by documenting the family tree. Great job and Thanks!