Last week was bittersweet for me. It was probably the last time I visited my childhood home since my dad will be moving before I can visit again in December. It was not as difficult to say goodbye as I feared. Maybe partly because I have been packing and re-packing my own boxes every time I came for a visit. I don’t have any close friends living there anymore and I am not planning to move back. Maybe the sadness will still come? I don’t know.
I loved growing up there and I am filled with memories. Memories of helping my grandma in the garden and my mom in her pottery studio, learning how to ride a bike and how to roller skate. I remember the tree in our backyard that we climbed with the neighborhood kids, endless games of hide and seek in the house and the garden, family gatherings, Christmas, baking cookies in the kitchen, birthday parties and the first heartache.
I also will remember the town itself. It’s small and when I was growing up everyone knew you, everyone greats each other on the street (and you better did this or your parents will hear about it if you didn’t). It only has about ~2100 people living there, but it has a supermarket, a church, a doctor, an elementary school, bus stops that take you to the next bigger city 13km away, a gas station, a volunteer run fire department, a sports field for soccer (honestly which small town does not in Germany?), tennis courts, a small skate park, a pool, a handcar you can try out and even a small heritage museum where you also can get married (also run by volunteers including my dad for a long time). It also used to have a bakery where you could get fresh rolls even before they officially opened when you went to the back where the oven was. There were summers filled with long pool days and camp from the church youth group, I played first recorder with a small group of other kids which was run by the wife of my music teacher and later trumpet with the brass orchestra from our church.
Wietzen is pretty much right between Hannover and Bremen but the next better known big city is Hamburg. So it is northern Germany. The dialect you may hear spoken there is low German. I can understand it when my dad speaks it with friends but I can’t speak it myself. My kids on the other hand will not know what their grandpa is talking about. There are certain words very different from the German you learn in school and they can even be different from town to town. My grandpa said that when the British soldiers came through at the end of World War II it was easier to communicate with them in low German because some words are similar.
So without further ado, here are a couple of pictures of my hometown before I fall asleep.
Home here and there 
Was Jutta your mom? Is she buried in Wietzen? I am sure you’ll go back to visit?
Thanks for sharing those memories. It must be bittersweet that your dad is moving out of your childhood home and leaving behind all the memories. I had to chuckle: although my hometown is quite a bit bigger than yours, we also have a bakery where you can get fresh rolls even before they officially open if you go to the back entrance 😉 So very “small-town-ish” 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, very small-town-ish 😉
It is still a little surreal. I have the feeling we will go back sometime because, yes, Jutta was my mom and also because one of my kids wants to say goodbye to the house (even if it is from the outside). It turns out a school friend of mine who lives close by has a vacation rental so there is an option to stay.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a wonderful tribute. All those memories. I am sure you will go back and maybe only when you are old to show your grand kids.
The town sounds charming and seems to have everything you need. Must have been a wonderful place to grow up in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does have everything you need, doesn’t it? They struggle to find a new doctor though like probably almost everywhere in the country side. They have lots of young families though so I think it will be around for quite sometime. Working in academia/research though makes it not a good fit for us personally. The next big cities are just to far away. I did commute for one year when I was still working in Hannover but I hated it with all my heart (the commute not the living there in general).
LikeLike
Wow. This is a big change. I’m glad you seem fairly content about having your dad move knowing you might not see the inside of the house again. I really enjoyed learning about your childhood experiences. I hope your dad settles in easily wherever he is moving.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He is moving 5 minute walking distance to my brother’s house. I hope he will adjust well and enjoys seeing his grand-kids more often. It’s maybe a little surreal for me but a huge change for him.
LikeLike
Your hometown sounds lovely!!! I don’t exactly miss the town where I grew up- but I miss my childhood and I miss my parents. One of these days I’ll go back to visit- I don’t know anyone there anymore, but I’m curious just to go and walk around.
I’m glad you’re feeling pretty good about things! We have to look forward instead of back, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are absolutely right about looking forward!
LikeLike
I totally get how you feel about visiting home and the special place it has in your heart. I feel much the same way. We are going to visit Germany for Thanksgiving week – I really need to pack everything today – and we haven’t been back in about 5 years… excited about visiting a Weihnachtsmarkt. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The first thing my daughter was excited about when I told her we will go to Germany for Christmas: Weihnachtsmarkt, hurray! I find it really hard to visit only a week since I have to decide who to see. We have all our family there so it gets really tricky.
LikeLike