Life: Idiotropic

In my first post-op week at home I was home feeling as if I were under house arrest and teasing Kirk about it though I do appreciate his care of me. Instructions said no driving for two weeks which he interpreted as no sitting in a car in any way, shape, or form for at least two solid weeks. The little girls did vacation Bible school and my big girl enjoyed her last week of sleeping in.

On Thursday, Kirk went back to work... and you know the saying... "While the cat's away..."

I was well behaved, mostly, but resting gets boring. In the afternoon I heard Tinny come in and talk to the girls, so I went down to investigate. "Tinny was looking for you." So, I went through our courtyard to her place and instead of finding Tinny, who was at another neighbor's house looking for scissors, I found her niece, Alicia, tying ribbons around roses.

12 red roses sat in the bucket in Tinny's sink bound together for something later. 12 large white roses laid across the table in tangles of bright yellow wired ribbon, their ends already cut on a nice diagonal. So, looking for something to do and thinking that the tying of ribbons was well within my allowed activities, I sat and helped tie pretty yellow bows on the remaining roses neatly trimming the ends. When that was finished they brought in 14 gold luftbalons, big, helium filled, and clinging to the ceiling. That's when the fireworks came out. Yep. Fireworks and balloons. We took what seems like a really long time, paining our fingers by twisting the ends of large sparklers onto the balloon string in two places so that each balloon had two sparklers hanging from it. Some only held one, so just about the time we had finished poking ourselves with those thick wires, Tinny found a box of small sparklers. And we all three immediately took off all the big sparklers and put the small ones on. It was finished. I went home and Tinny promised to ring my door bell so I could come and take pictures of the balloons. Spaeter. Later. When it's dark.

15 minutes later the doorbell rang. It wasn't dark. I didn't see Tinny, but Finny was outside with another couple I didn't know. The tall man linked his arm in mine and invited me, Elise, and Luci (who had come outside too and without shoes) to come to the party. Ok. I ran inside quickly, told Tiara where I'd be, slipped my sandals on, and went. The party was at the house at the opposite of row of houses we live on - a whole 20 feet away. The side yard was set up with a large tent under which about 8 long, narrow tables with benches were set. People filled most of them already drinking and talking with each other. I sat down at one, then scooted into the end as people began to fill it. Finny, Kirt (the old man who lives in the house by us), Tinny, the hairdresser (Tanya), the couple in the big house (Paul and...), and the man with the white dogs sat at my table.

Tanya and Paul spoke a bit of English but everyone was friendly and tried to converse with me making me feel a lot less of an outsider. Young girls walked around serving drinks. Elise and Luci had Fanta. I shared theirs. Tray after tray of broetchen halves went by with mettwurst (raw ground pork) with onions, schinkenwurst, salami, cheeses... all with a thick smear of butter. The kids at some. I waited. Tiara was home cooking dinner.

We talked about wine from the Ahr regions. Tanya asked where I was from and I learned that almost everyone at my table had a relative somewhere in the states. The man with the little white dogs folded his napkin into triangles and then held it up like a bikini and everyone laughed. He started a conversation with me about ouzo. Strange, but ok. I can talk ouzo.

Kirt is the man next door who lives alone with his miniature pony, Bonzai. He's 79 with dark skin. Short with slightly tired shoulders. He is rarely seen without his thick cigar and he drinks schnapps - and only schnapps claiming that a shot in the morning and a shot in the afternoon has kept him healthy for years. This is the man who still stands on top of his ladder with a chainsaw to trim his 8' hedges and stood on top of his new awning when he was building it. May be schnapps is a health food. So Kirt sat at the end of the table listening, contributing just a little, and smiling with unnaturally white, perfect (I suspect false) teeth the entire evening, a cigar cocked out of one side of his mouth allowing him to continue to drink shot after shot of who knows what. Someone would take the bottle. He'd jovially yell, and one of the girls would fetch it for him. Tinny told me later that the men carried him home at midnight. She was walking back from his place at 9 the next morning checking in to make sure he was ok.

I left to check on the kids after a couple hours, but within a half hour the doorbell rung again... it was time for the singing. 12 school friends had gathered. Can you imagine??? You're old enough to celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary and 12 of your closest school friends are there singing? It's amazing. People stay in these villages for a lifetime.


Two ladies dressed up as the anniversary couple. Alicia played the small boom box inside the old fashioned looking crank organ and turned the crank as if she was playing it. The school friends had their white roses to give and we all sung "Rut Sin De Ruse" loudly until our lungs couldn't take it anymore. I don't know if it was badly typed or some strain of old German, but the spelling isn't what I've learned.


Soon the sparklers came. The school friends all gathered in a circle and lit the fireworks letting a few balloons go at a time. Then we all gathered (even me) in a half circle singing another well known song to the couple of honor. Soon after (it was around 10), I went home.

I heard Tinny come home after 11 laughing loudly with her friends. The party continued until midnight. That was the only portion that I was a part of, but the celebration continued. A 50th anniversary is a special thing in a small town.

On Friday the Mayor of Geilenkirchen came to their house to bring a gift from the city and to spend an hour visiting. Then in the evening there was a special anniversary mass at the church in Gillrath.

On Saturday all their family and friends gathered once more - this time for dinner at Haus Hammacher. It was a very nice dinner, Tinny said. She was there for about 6 hours.

She came over before the party to show me this balloon. It was a gift from 3 neighbors - the second neighbor to their left (Tinny), the second neighbor to their right, and the second neighbor in front of them. They put a wedding photo inside then filled the balloon and over 200Euros in 5 Euros bills, confetti, and smaller balloons.

It's tradition, says Tinny. It's beautiful.