Seeds of Change - 20 Years Later

This past weekend was a reunion and a memorable one at that. Our good friends from Prague, Tomas and Helena and their boys Matej and Adam, joined our old friend Mike and his girlfriend Michelle in visiting our Dutch abode.

As I wrote on this blog last spring, Tomas, Mike and I had co-founded an English teaching program in what was then Czechoslovakia not long after the Velvet Revolution. We were collectively amazed to realize that our joint effort took place nearly 20 years ago. Holy cow.

What a treat for the three of us and families/significant others to get together here in The Netherlands before Josy, the kids and I move back to Seattle in July. Truly one of the most meaningful, memorable times of my life for us all to catch up over a long weekend.

Of course, no gathering of us would be complete without drama. En route to Amstelveen on Friday, Matej (7) came down with a fever that lasted until Monday. Poor guy, he basically had to spend nearly the entire visit laid out in bed. And Helena was a trooper, foregoing several outings to look after him and stick close to our house.

In a similar vein, Sophie came down with a fever, vomiting and breathing trouble starting Saturday night. This took her out of commission for Sunday and ended up in the 3-day hospital stay from Monday through Wednesday for severe pneumonia (see post below).

As if that weren't enough drama, when Tomas and family departed on Sunday for Prague, their car's alternator ("dynamo" in Czech) gave out about 20 minutes into their drive. Mike and I went to meet them and we all came back to Amstelveen. This being Holland, no car repair shops are open in the entire country on Sundays, so they weren't able to get the alternator replaced until Tuesday afternoon.

All in all, though, the extended weekend proved a great opportunity for late night catching up and reminiscing - well, as late as some of us fogeys can stay up, that is. A tasty treat of freshly brewed Czech beer from Tomas and fine wine from Mike and Michelle didn't hurt either.

"Kramsky 2010" was the rallying cry when we all said goodbyes, referring to the town where Tomas and Helena live outside of Prague. Then again, who knows - perhaps a visit to San Francisco will be in the offing. Given the drama of this weekend's reunion, next time we'll be sure to bring extra Tylenol, a AAA membership and perhaps an extra stock of Czech beer.