The Unexpected Story

The Unexpected Story

I've been struggling this past week to find something to blog about.  Something I've done or planned or a tidbit of info I've chanced to find that will help us get closer to Vienna.  Other than our passports arriving, though, I didn't feel I had anything to say, Vienna-wise.  And, so, I've said nothing.

But as I've been sitting here, saying nothing, things that didn't at first seem related or relatable are crowding my mind and I've decided that they're more connected than I thought at first.  It could just be that this is a sentimental time for me, but I'm starting to weave things together and, if not specifically related to Vienna, they're related to me, and this truly is my story this week.

On February 6th, forty years ago, my mother boarded a plane bound for Germany.  She traveled alone and brought with her a large purse containing all the regular purse "stuff," as well as a passport, 6 place settings, and 3 service pieces of sterling silver.  In addition to what sounds like the ultimate handbag, mom had with her a carefully packed and sealed box that held her wedding gown. She was going to meet my dad, who was in the Air Force.  They were getting married.  In Germany.  On Valentine's Day.


Fast forward forty years.  Here I am, in California, away from my family.  I have no place settings stashed in a large purse, but I have a dress.  I am getting married.  On the day as close to Valentine's Day as we could get at City Hall.

These are but a few of the similarities that have come into focus this week.  On a lighter note, I could reference the obvious love (and need) for purses that fit one's life, whatever life may be at that time, and a love of men from Indiana.  

Mind you, I'm nearly 20 years older than my mom was when she began her "adult life," as she's called it, I'm having a self-imposed low-key wedding, and the wedding is taking place before we move to Austria rather than once we're there.  But the similarities are there, bits of two stories that sound alike in some small way. 


Tenuous connections, silly, coincidences....however you might read them, they are special to me.  If you know me and my mother, you know we don't often do things in the same way.  We have different worldviews and different ways of approaching life and there aren't many cases in which I can say I've followed in her footsteps.  So, I choose to see what is happening now as a way of following in her footsteps, cherishing the story that threads through her life to mine and it is to be continued.


The way we got where we did and the reasons we followed may be be different.  But right now, tonight, as my wedding approaches and as I look forward to experiencing a whole new world together with my soon-to-be husband, I think of my mom, sitting at the airport waiting to board the plane, and I feel as though I'm sitting there with her.