Sometimes the flag falls down on our mail box. I did not look on Friday and ended up taking a peak on Saturday afternoon. Surprise, there was a post card invitation from my 24 year old daughter living in Germany. By the post mark- it took a long time to get here so the content was shocking. I was under the impression that she had one more year of school to go. She has been
in Germany for 4 years.
Here it was, Dad, I know you will probably not be able to come to my graduation on February 13th- but, I wanted to invite you anyway. It was now February 7th! I shuffled into the house, dragging my jaw through the snow and showed it to Tina who was in the kitchen. I was more or less resigned that it would be something I would missing out on. Night was falling, I went out to close up the chicken coop for the night. When I came back inside Tina had already found me a flight for the 10th and told me I could make it in time. She said you must go. I said, I know.
I had never been to Europe before - what an adventure! My daughter met me at the Munich airport. What a clean, beautiful city. A two hour ride by train to the south and we arrived in Mittenwald, nestled in the mountains, on the border with Austria. It is a part of the Bavarian Alps. Mittenwald is encircled by mountains. The sun does not hit your face until after 9 or 10:00AM. The mountains are stunningly beautiful - you cannot look skyward in any direction without seeing them. She had moved to Munich one year before going to her school of choice because she had to be fluent in German before she could apply. For the first year she attended state
sponsored language classes in Munich. She also had to audition at the school playing her Cello. All students are required to read music and play a stringed instrument.
On the 13th I was there when she was presented with her diploma. She is now a certified
Luthier, a graduate of the 150 year old violin making school of Mittenwald Germany. In true style, she has already secured a job in Berlin and has a seven week violin restoration course scheduled for next month in England. After a year or two in the field she can apply for her Masters.
Are we proud of her? You could say that. This was her dream from the time she was 13 or 14 years old. She saved up 90% of the money and made all the connections through her own research. I brought her a card from the family that said- Daughter, you have gone confidently in the direction of your dreams and are living the life you had imagined. We are all so very proud of you!