2012 is supposed to be the "end of the world" by the Myan calendar, so it is time to get some traveling in before the end. My mom is turning 70 this year and, at her request, she and I are traveling back to "the old country."
It's a return trip, so to speak: with my mom back to the Netherlands and England to see her brothers. She still has 2 brothers in NL and one in England. We are currently over the Atlantic on the way. There's also a rundown of numbers coming across that probably have some significance, if I went for that sort of thing, but are at least interesting:
70-the age my mom will be this year
60- the age my uncle Nico is turning this year
50-the number of years my Uncle Gerrit and Aunt Gre are married
30-the number of years Uncle Nico and Ruth are married
On January 1 of 2013, it will have been 50 years since my mom emigrated from the Netherlands. She traveled on New Year's Day because that was a day that her parent's store was closed. She landed in Detroit Airport and was picked up by Ben and Jerry (really), but they refused to stop for ice cream (not really). She had come through New York first. On that initial
flight to New York, she was sitting next to a man from South Africa who spoke Afrikaans. He helped her fill out the paper work in English because he could translate from the Dutch. He then proposed to her saying that they really needed women in South Africa. She decided to take the plane to Detroit because her brother and brother-in-law were waiting for her. Good thing cell phones weren't an option for
flight to New York, she was sitting next to a man from South Africa who spoke Afrikaans. He helped her fill out the paper work in English because he could translate from the Dutch. He then proposed to her saying that they really needed women in South Africa. She decided to take the plane to Detroit because her brother and brother-in-law were waiting for her. Good thing cell phones weren't an option for changing plans;-)
Yesterday was a long travel day. I left LA and went through Minneapolis to Grand Rapids, MI. I was picked up by my mom and her sister, Alice. We passed through Kalamazoo to do some luggage exchange and then mom and I headed to Detroit for our flight. We got to our hotel at 1:45am and got a couple short hours of sleep before we took off this morning. This flight was via Chicago and we'll land in London Heathrow tonight to head to Uncle Nico's house.
We're now in Downham Market and planning on sleeping until we're done!
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