Confession

That last post is bringing back a flood of memories, including this one (and then I have to try to sleep since our train gets in shortly before 5am):After 9 months in Ukraine, I had the thrill (it was believe me) of 6 weeks in Germany, summer of 2001. Linda S and I left Kyiv together, arriving into Berlin (after nearly 48 hours on trains)...in the middle of what turned out to be Europe's annual Love Parade...ummm...well, it was umm...shocking to say the least, after growing up, living and working in the MidWest and then spending a year in 'post-Soviet' still very protected Ukraine (girls who are close friends walk down the street holding hands for no other reason than that they're close friends, if you know what I mean).

The Love Parade is a gay and lesbian festival and I guess I'll leave it at that- except to say that L & I both had roaring headaches from the crowds and noise before we got out of the Berlin train station. In fact, one more thing- it was so bad that I was nearly in tears, thought Berlin must be the modern 'Sodom and Gomorrhoa' (sp?) and nearly had a panic attack knowing that I couldn't just get on the first train heading back east to Ukraine. I was relieved to find out that this was far from normal for Berlin or Germany.

Back to the story. After several very special annual mtgs there in Germany, I had some time with Allen and Cami N, who were living there at the time. It was blissful. Mik was a happy bubbly 2 1/2 (or 3?) year old, Mich was just learning to walk and A & C were so 'my age' so Amer and so 'just-what-the-doctor-ordered'. I came home from conv with them; Cami sat in back with the kids and I was in front with an excellent view, unfortunately, of the road and the speedometer.

Well, after 9 months of buses that seldom went 60 mph, the autobahn with no speed limit terrified me. I kept telling myself, "This man's wife and kids are in the back seat; he's not driving like a maniac because he's not a maniac and his wife and kids..." Thankfully, I got used to fast cars and fast (and good) roads again before the summer was over...and when I was home, loved driving just as much as ever!