A party at an inn in a forest by a lake

It's been two months since I returned from the event that brought me to Europe for a 3-week stay this spring. My friendship with Renate T., who I've known since my early days in Japan 25 years ago, resulted in a special invitation when R visited me in Denver last fall. She would celebrate a special birthday, her 80th, the following spring and she (along with her granddaughter Yoko) were planning a party to celebrate. Would I come? It was to be in her hometown, Aumühle, Germany, a small municipality north of Hamburg in Schleswig-Holstein.

I knew then that it was a done deal, but I waited until November to buy a plane ticket to Germany. And then this invitation came, decorated with photos of Renate as a child and the adult she is today, doing a lifelong favorite activity: reading. My anticipation grew.

Renate and I share February birthdays, but mercifully, for weather considerations, the party was planned for late April, a time when spring would be in the air and the days somewhat long. The location was the charming and historic Hotel Waldesruh am See, which translates to something like "forest rest by the lake". I would be treated to a two-night stay there. Ah--I was hooked.

This hotel, in a building dating back to 1737, is often described as "quaint"--WiFi service notwithstanding. Here's what it looks like from the front.

Both interior and exterior have no doubt changed a lot since the early 18th century, but there's certainly a feeling of previous decades--and centuries--inside: large vases of blooming shrub branches, dark wood paneling, faded photos of yesteryear's hunting parties.  My room delighted me, comfortable, with a casement window opening into the Sachsenwald Forest, now in early spring green. Here it is on the mid-morning day of departure. However, it's the untaken photo of the window in early morning, opening into a wall of green leaves filled with birdsong, that stays in mind.

In addition to the party, there was a special reunion--of three teachers who had not been together as a threesome for more than a decade. We taught languages at Tamagawa University in Japan: German by Renate, Spanish by Marimar, and English by me. We often enjoyed our "chatting power" as Marimar called it, over coffee after classes were done for the day. Then Marimar left for another university where she met and fell in love with Frank. They married, had a child, and eventually moved to Frank's home country, Germany.

Renate and I had visited several times during the past ten years, but I hadn't seen Marimar since she left Japan and moved to Nuremberg with her husband and daughter. The tears of nostalgia and joy in our eyes as we met up in the central train station in Hamburg is my strongest emotional memory. Arriving a day early, we traveled together to Aumühle. Here we are a day later before the party. From left: me, Renate's granddaughter Yoko, Renate, and Marimar.

Many other friends and family members came to the party from various places in Germany; other countries too, including Portugal, where two of Renate's cousins live. I was surprised to realize how many of the guests I had met before and well, how time does indeed pass. Renate's youngest son Fumihiko, his wife Masako and younger daughter Haruko had flown in from Japan a day earlier; oldest daughter Yoko came in from Kyoto, though she lives in Tübingen, the German university town where she's studying to be a doctor.I  had met the family when Yoko and Haruko were very young children. Renate's sisters were there, Susanne and Christine, who I met during my 2005 trip to Germany;  Susanne's partner Jo, and their two children, Johannes and Charlotte were there too. I first met Johannes, now over 30 and established in a career, when he was a tender youth of 17, staying in Japan for a few months to study Japanese. Charlotte, only 9 when I met her in 2005, is a pediatric nurse now. And there was Renate's brother, Hartwig and his wife Fadime, born in Turkey, who I first met during their visit to Japan;  and the former pastor of the German church in Tokyo came with her husband, reminding me of the church's amazing Christmas bazaar and concerts which I had attended several times during my years in Japan. And then there were the two grown children of Renate's sister Angelika, who died suddenly two years earlier. She was in many hearts, including mine, during this reunion weekend. With all of these memories, I felt tender toward this assembled group who shared my affection for Renate,  our very special friend/family member.

Here's the best of the group photos (sans me), set against a late afternoon forest backdrop. The young woman to the left of Renate, is her granddaughter Haruko, who sat next to me at the party and did a fine job as translator and charming lunch companion.

And oh, the party! There were tributes and presents, songs, a slideshow of Renate's many shared events with family over the years, even a literary quiz. Granddaughter Yoko gave an especially heartfelt tribute to the grandmother she loves and feels so much in common with. The Waldesruh staff brought us a delicious lunch of wine, cream of tomato soup, a ragout of Sachsenwald venison with green beans and potatoes (locally raised of course), and red berries with vanilla ice-cream. And during and after, smiles and conversations and catching-up stories, and photos; and it seemed to me, so much shared pleasure that this family, with its origins in a very small town in Germany, had spread so far over time and distance. Below is my favorite photo of Renate from that afternoon.

Evening came after a golden sunset, and Renate, Marimar and I had a chance to remember our language teaching days, as well as exchange news of our lives since then. An opened bottle of wine, Marimar's present, enhanced our "chatting power." I had last seen Marimar in Tokyo about a year after she had given birth to her daughter Amaya--now a cheerful, bright 9-year-old. How do I know? The following morning we Skyped with Frank and Amaya, who were at home in Nuremberg. That morning Renate, Marimar and I prepared to leave the Hotel Waldesruh shortly after a generous buffet breakfast of cheeses, meats, fish, breads, fresh fruit and yogurt, cold fresh juice, and some of the best coffee I ever had. We dined in style. A photo of the breakfast room: 

 

Then lots of goodbyes, hopes expressed for meeting again, a walk to the train station in the cool morning air. Marimar encouraged me to visit her and Frank and Amaya in Nuremberg. And who knows, maybe with Renate in Spain in two years. ("I'd like to take you there", Marimar had told us the night before.) A very good idea we agreed.

I was due to meet Renate in two days for the start of our 9-day trip to Poland, which I looked forward to. Yet, as I told Marimar, very, very sincerely, no matter how wonderful Poland would be, this weekend would remain the highlight of this journey.