The purpose for our visit to Berlin this month was to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Sebastian’s grandparents.
Before the Berlin Wall was built, Sebastian’s Grandmother’s entire family lived in East Berlin. After years of communism, and the threat of worse things to come, her entire family fled to the west.
Well, everyone but her.
She stayed behind, bound by her love to Sebastian’s Grandfather.
Her family was right, things in Communist East Berlin became a lot worse. A wall was built, forcibly trapping people into communism. Life was hard. Food was restricted. Neighbors turned to spies. Raising a family in the DDR was a hard task. But these two did it.
They had three children together. From these three children, came five grandchildren, with one more on the way. Already, from their five grandchildren, they have two great-grandchildren.
And 50 years of love between them.
Certainly worth celebrating.
Sebastian’s mom did a fantastic job planning the celebration. Every detail was carefully considered.
From the tables to the entertainment, she did a great job.
The celebration was held in the church where the two were wed, 50 years ago.
She even put together a very impressive presentation about the life and times of her parents. Beginning with their baby photos, to wedding photos, to a slide of photos for each of their kids, grandkids and great grandkids.
Sebastian’s mom Sebastian on Route 66
Apparently, I’m not allowed to leave this family as there was even an entire slide with photos of Sebastian and me. Including the first time I got drunk with met his grandparents.
The family members who now live in West Germany even planned a bit of entertainment.
An operatic puppet show! Oh did we laugh to this one!
Well into the night, a band arrived to play the top hits from each year the couple has been married.
Boy did that perk everyone up! All the guests who are more advanced in years started singing along and got up to dance. But naturally, the first dance was had by the couple of honor.
I spent most of the day playing with Sebastian’s cousin’s daughter, Natalie.
Whenever we’re at get-together, she and I stick together.
Even though I haven’t seen her since Christmas, she instantly recognized me and didn’t leave my side all day or night. I blame it on our similar German language skills. We get each other.
Such a cutie, right? We played with bugs, made flower garlands, pretended to be monsters, and even washed the sidewalk and watered the plants.
The party started at 2 and when we walked out of the church many hours later, it was already day light. 4:30 am to be exact. This family is nothing but a group of party animals!
The next day, we went to Sebastian’s grandparent’s house to eat the leftover food and continue the family fun.
Unfortunately, it was 104 degrees in the shade, so we spent most of the day soaking our feet in water and trying to keep cool.
50 years is really something.
Although I had a great time at this golden anniversary party, it made me really sad to think about missing my own grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary party a few years back. Although I believe my generation will have fewer couples making it this far, I hope some day I’ll be able to celebrate 50 years of married bliss.
Eating Abroad
