Pull the trap!!

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Wednesday, June 9th:

Yawn! Streeeetch!!!! Yikes…what happened this morning!? Another bathroom fiasco! I swear, I think my aunt and uncle are so ready to get rid of all of their house guests! Just kidding…they were so gracious during our whole stay…we NEVER felt like we were outstaying our welcome…except for this morning…if I were the home owner, I think I may have shown a crack in my composure…LOL. Here is what happened: I am not sure if I have previously described the absolutely stunning shower that my aunt and uncle have in their main bath. It is considered a shower that disabled people could use and roll their wheelchairs right into. The stall is all glass walls, about 8 feet high from floor to ceiling. The doors both open outward from the corner of the stall. The floor of the stall was made from smooth river stone, and under the doors are rubber gaskets to “keep the moisture from escaping” into the rest of the bathroom. The enclosure of the stall is approximately 3 feet by 3 feet. So…the scene is set. My mom had the pleasure to take the fist shower that morning.  As she is enjoying her shower (immensely, I must add) she did not notice that the drain stopped working (she wears glasses and is subsequently blind when she doesn’t wear them). She also did not notice that the water was now lapping first around her ankles and then approaching her knees! It was then that she heard the frantic knocks at the bathroom door, and someone saying that there was some major flooding coming from under the door into the foyer of the house! Omg…apparently, there is a trap underneath the drain cap that needs to be cleaned out every once in a while…I have long hair and am used to cleaning the drain every time I wash my hair, but I was unaware of the extra trap underneath…apparently so was my aunt and uncle! When the water finally drained, they pulled the trap and found a hairball the size of a small dog!!! I felt really guilty that there were a lot of long strands in the mix (my mom and aunt both have short hair) but it was then that I found out that my aunt and uncle didn’t even know about the extra trap! Luckily the floor in the foyer and bathroom is all marble, so it did not take very long to put towels down and dry everything up! Whew! We have three more days here, so we are crossing our fingers that nothing else goes wrong! 

I was very excited for the day…we had plans to go and visit one of my mom’s aunts (my great-aunt) who is 96 years old! Her name is Lorie, so we call her Tante Lorie (tante=aunt, in German). We drove approximately 40 minutes through gorgeous countryside, all the way up a large hill, to the top, where she lived in a senior home. The home was like a chalet lodge, where they had a garden to plant fresh fruit and vegetables, a little area where they had bunnies and chickens. We had to walk up a huge spiral staircase to get to my aunt’s room. She has been living here for approximately 6 months…she had lived alone in a big house in Bitburg up until then, but since has been diagnosed with blindness and mild dementia. As soon as we came in the room though, she knew exactly who my mom was, and since she had not seen me since I was a child, she did not really know who I was, but did remember me visiting when I was a child. Even though I had not seen nor talked to her in over 30 years, I felt a connection to her, and it brought tears to my eyes that I had such a precious family member who was soon to leave this earth (like my mom’s parents-my maternal grandparents). Even though there was a language barrier, I sat and held her hand and then gave her a big hug. The photo that my mom took of the two of us will be such a treasure in the years to come. It really hit hard at that moment that I did not have any grandparents left alive, even though they lived so far away when they were alive…I told Kenya that she needed to treasure the fact that she has her grandparents close by and that she needed to cherish the relationship and the memories she is creating with them now.

The rest of the day was spent cooking and relaxing in the sun…we were finally feeling like we had so much to do before we left!!! 

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