I want to tell you all about my exciting summer vacation, but I don't want to bury the lede. So here it is. Here's the lede.
Jake Michaelson has secured a post-doctoral position at University of California San Diego and will begin work there Feb. 14, 2011. The Michaelson family, including wife JEM and son Jethro, will leave Dresden at the end of January not to return for a long time unless they win the lottery or something.
Our feelings about all of this are mixed, but mostly really good. The post-doc position is awesome. Jake will be working with an impressive group that is researching the genetic roots of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism. We're really excited to be closer to our families (a lot closer to Jake's family in Las Vegas) and back in our own language and culture, and we must admit to being a little giddy about living within spitting distance of this:
JEM'S SUMMER VACATION:
THE 3-D* EXPERIENCE!
This was a weird summer. Most of June was so cold and rainy that we didn't go out much, and then July was so oppressively hot that we didn't go out much. (CULTURAL SIDENOTE: Germany doesn't have air conditioning. And if they do, I must assume after this summer that they only turn it on in the event of the Earth getting sucked into the sun's gravitational pull. And even then only for, like, the last 3 minutes before everything gets vaporized.) And then Jethro and I went to the United States for 3 weeks to see my baby brother get hitched to this hot little number:
Somehow Spence managed to find my 8-years-younger soul-sister. And convince her to marry him. I'm tickled pink about the whole arrangement.
But first things first. There were bike rides ...
some disturbing finds at the flea market ...
merry-go-rounds ...
teeter-totters ...
and visits from friends. First, long-time buddies and formidable Halo opponents Missy and Ben and their sweet little Addie en route from Finland to Austria:
This visit was the first time Marci's and my paths had crossed in something like 5 years, but being with her felt like we'd never been apart. It was like being 15 all over again, but better.
In July Dresden held its annual Museumsnacht. For one night, nearly all the city's dozens of museums stay open till all hours, and for one 9 Euro ticket, you can get into each and every one of them. Jake and I went in shifts. I took the later shift, after Jethro was in bed, and got to enjoy strolling the Brühlsche Terrasse alone on a warm summer's night — something that hadn't happened in a while, and that likely won't happen again for some time. It was magic.
And then came the journey back to America. Since Jake was tied up with dissertation writing, a conference at Cambridge University and his interview at USCD at the exact time we'd be making this trip, Jethro and I had to leave him behind, which was miserable.
away we go (photo taken by Jake from the observation deck)
Jethro and I went through security at the Dresden airport and turned around to wave goodbye to Jake around the metal detectors, and that was when Jethro realized that Dad wasn't coming with us. He didn't scream, he just began to sob hopelessly. He required a hug, a teddy bear and a muffin before he could pull himself back together. The journey itself was among the more arduous 24-hour periods of my entire life. Jethro came down with a cold the night before we left and, over the course of the 10-hour flight from Frankfurt to Dallas, got progressively sicker. My throat started burning early on in the flight and by the time my dad picked us up at the Salt Lake City airport, we were nose-dripping, head-pounding zombies. At my parents' house in Idaho Falls we slept for two days, and my parents pumped me full of Umcka (in Germany it's Umckaloabo), an herbal cold remedy they'd recently been converted to. I bear testimony to you all that it worked. I think it was a major reason that I was able to stand upright three days later and accompany my soon-to-be sister-in-law to the Idaho Falls LDS Temple, where she received her endowment in preparation for her temple marriage a week later.
For the record I took a lot of photos and videos my first week and a half there. There was documentation of a roadtrip Jethro and I took with my dad to Victor, Idaho, in the gorgeous Teton Basin and the spectacular lightning storm that accompanied us home, of Jethro's first taste of black licorice (he liked it) and his first real encounter with a drinking fountain (Germany has no drinking fountains and I'm not exaggerating). I captured Jethro running into my mom's arms when she came home from work one day, and of course I immortalized the beautiful wedding day. But at the end of the wedding day, as the happy couple was leaving the reception to escape in their decorated honeymoon car (also documented in detail), my memory card filled up and subsequently SELF-DESTRUCTED.
So you'll just have to believe me when I share the following tidbits:
—In Victor we watched a concert in the park of a cool indie-hipster-bluegrass band called Frontier Ruckus that included a musical saw. Jethro danced on the grass among the Connecticut trust fund yuppies sipping wine on picnic blankets who have taken over the little mountain town I love as storm clouds gathered overhead. We ate dinner from a port-a-kitchen claiming to serve authentic Austrian cuisine with the catchy slogan "Alles hat ein Ende, aber ein Wurst hat zwei!"
— Jethro fell absolutely in love with my mother. When we got home from the temple Jethro ran from his babysitter, my lovely cousin Katie, straight past me and right into my mom's arms squealing "Gamma! Gamma! Gamma!"
—The similarities between Jaidyn, my new sister-in-law, and myself are not limited to the hair. We are both the oldest of three children, we both married at 19 (OK, she was actually two weeks shy of her 19th birthday, but close enough), we both like to sing and play guitar, and (here's the clincher) we both carry almost identical leather wallets our fathers made when they were kids. Oh yeah, Jethro adores her, too. Although this trip was the first time I ever met her, I didn't feel like there needed to be much "getting to know each other". We just had this automatic understanding and affection. I can't imagine a better situation, actually.
In lieu of wedding photos, enjoy these awesome engagement photos of my little bro and his little lady taken by their friend Tori:
the pals
the grillmeister
quilt tying
the grillmeister's fruits
where I got my obligatory Reese's Peanut Butter Cup milkshake
Jethro and I went to the Idaho Falls zoo with a bunch of my Idaho cousins and their kids.
photo stolen from Facebook without any permission from anybody
Ford recently masterminded and organized this:
And has become a local hero over his battle with the Man when the rematch was blocked by police (although he claims it's not a big deal).
Brandon is an extraordinary culinary artist (and, incidentally, also a martial artist) who put on a waffle bar for the wedding luncheon in my parents' backyard for free that was so good I'm still fantasizing about it ... homemade blueberry syrup ... mmmmmm ... And he's single. Interested women may send their resumés to me, and I will review them and forward the candidates I approve to Brandon.
photo stolen from Facebook without any permission from anybody
Then we flew to Las Vegas to spend a couple of days with Jake's family before we had to head back to Deutschland.
We woke up the next day and immediately hurled ourselves into Mom and Dad's swimming pool with a whole herd of fun cousins.
My last night there, Sin City gave me this:
Aw, Las Vegas. I love you, too.
Another harrowing 24 hours (including 2 hours on the tarmac in Dallas, and a subsequent missed connecting flight and me actually bawling in front of some poor German girl manning the American Airlines desk in Frankfurt while Jethro squirted himself with apple juice) and we were back home, in the arms of our Jake and our beautiful Dresden. How we missed them.
JEM
*dramatic but dragging and ultimately a little disappointing (sorry, B.L.)
