Chapter VIII - POINTY SHOES

I ENVIED THEM FOR THE LIFE THEY BUILT UP IN THE FIVE MONTHS WITHOUT ME, BUT I ALSO FELT BLESSED THAT I WAS GOING TO BE PART OF THEIR LIVES AGAIN AND LEAVE THE OTHER LIFE BEHIND. I ALMOST COULDN’T BELIEVE IT WAS REAL AND MEANT TO BE FOREVER.

On the way to Ellicott City, I was so impressed by seeing so many neon lights and all those huge cars, Patricia told me later that in my excitement I screamed at her “It feels like we are driving in a movie”, everything felt alien because I had never seen it before.

We lived in a small house on the property of my father-in-law, the old Toll House of Ellicott City, the house where almost all of their children lived before they bought their first house. It had a big yard with a creek running through it, and as a city boy, I had to get used to the whole zoo that lived in that yard and the forest behind it: black snakes, moles, groundhogs, raccoons, squirrels, and sometimes deer.

It was quite a change from Amsterdam to the country: no booze, no bars, no buddies and I had to wait with applying for a job until I had a green card and that could take a while. It was frightening to start all over but exciting to be in a country on the other side of the world.

I SURE COULDN’T KNOW YET THAT THOSE TWO YEARS IN ELLICOTT CITY WOULD BE THE HAPPIEST TIME OF MY LIFE.

“So, first we are going to buy you some Reebok's today”! “What in the hell are Reebok's”? “Shoes, like Nike’s, what are you going to do on those pointy Italian shoes here?” A couple of hours later I found the new me in the mirror: Reebok’s, blue jeans, and a white T-shirt. Ready to become an American!

That evening we climbed up the dirt road to the house on the hill from my parents-in-law for dinner, where Patricia and her sisters were curious about which ear their mother would turn to me (as she didn’t hear well with one ear), they were relieved because happily, it was her good ear!

To be continued......