Epilogue-My German Odyssey

On November 9th we sat in the den of our home and watched the satellite feeds from Berlin, as The Wall “fell”. East and West Germans met atop The Wall at the Brandenburg Gate and with open champagne bottles celebrated the end to their separation.
Hubby and I sat there with tears rolling down our faces as we watched this miraculous, historical event. I felt I was part of this history. I knew the before, and the during, and I was seeing, “the after” on TV. I turned to Hubby and said, “We have to go back!”
Two months later we stepped off another Pan Am flight at Tegel Airport. Our friends, Ed and his wife Buddy, met us at the airport and we drove to their place in Zehlendorf. We laughed and cried and talked about what this would mean to all the Germans.
The next day we drove to The Brandenburg Gate. I stood there looking at the people dancing on top of The Berlin Wall
and I turned to Hubby and said, “By golly, I want to dance!”
I am not at all graceful. Thank God Hubby is strong! He climbed up first and then helped me up.
I stood there looking around, the Brandenburg Gate behind me,

and the Reichstag to my side.

I laughed and I cried and my heart was filled with such joy. I danced and I sang and I looked to see all the other smiling faces around me. People were still hugging each other, still drunk with the joy of their freedom. Since that day, I have not taken my freedom for granted.
I have seen what it is like to live under a repressive communist regime and I have watched it crumble before me, but not until after it had taken its toll on the people and on the landscape.
We walked around where people had chipped away at The Wall, and I found this opening. A young East German soldier was peeking through. When he saw me, he smiled. We spoke for just a moment, but I will always remember that young boy in his uniform and the happiness that I could see on his face.

We walked through to the Eastern side of Berlin. So unlike my first crossing of this border, people flowed back and forth without a thought or a struggle.
We went to the restaurant where we often had lunches while visiting the Eastern half of the city. I always remarked at how quiet this place was. No one talked loudly and no groups of people laughed or joked.
Now, two months after the fall of The Wall, the people were all talking loudly and laughing and drinking their beers in groups and they were smiling!
They were finally free!