…it started at an early age

My dad won a trip to the US in 1994. I was 9 years old when I first crossed the Atlantic ocean and went on a road trip on the west coast. 4 weeks of pure excitement…for once I was lucky. We did the whole tourist thing…San Francisco, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Yellowstone National Park, Las Vegas and L.A., amongst others. We didn’t leave out the Grand Canyon either. This is were my most vivid memory of this trip comes from. I can still remember what I was wearing that day. That is actually one of my gifts. Ask me about any pivotal experience of my life and I can tell you what I was wearing. I still haven’t found out what I might use this gift for, but back to the story. I was wearing a barbie pink skirt and top with a cherries, bananas and apples on both – the skirt and the top.

I was fascinated by the beauty of the landscape…and the chipmunks that come so close you can almost pet them. So I kept running after them trying to catch one of these cute little things. Though luck! They’re pretty quick. After a while I gave up. I looked around, but I couldn’t see my parents. Not that I was shortsighted back then, they simply weren’t there. Now why the heck wouldn’t they run after their chipmunk-hunting daughter that already saw herself lost in the middle of nowhere surrounded by people who didn’t speak a word of German (“Bier” doesn’t count)? I’ll tell you why: My little brother had to pee and they where busy finding a restroom. However, I finally remembered the advice of my mother: “If you get lost, go back to the car.” Little me did so. Or tried doing so. The only thing that ultimately separated me from the car and my family was what looked like wild growing and tall grass. I didn’t see a bridge anywhere near, so I figured I might as well walk through it… .Turns out it was a swamp. All of a sudden it was not the Grand Canyon people paid attention to, but the little girl dressed in pink  – that got stuck in the mud…