Never ever let them fly alone. Reposted from Sept 21. 2010

Well, so much for me updating once week, I will try harder. A lot as happened. I have been in Berlin for the past 4 weeks. We are moving out of my apartment here. A place in Mitte that I have called my home since February 2008 and I am sad to see the home which was once cozy and warm turn into an empty four walled living space. I am excited always to be in Berlin again, to share new experiences with old friends and to really strengthen my belief in how this city has inspired me and led me down new paths. My mom flew out to Berlin on a Monday. Im not sure that I can write about that because it was a very emotional experience for me. She was on a 13 hour flight from Seattle to Amsterdam, and during a long wait in Amsterdam must have done something to alert the airline personnel who did not let her on her flight to Berlin and insisted that she visit the Medical Center at Schipoll airport.

I was beside myself. I could eat, felt sick to my stomach. Had to track down the doctor at the airport and tell them that my mom had early onset Alzheimer's and that she HAD to be on the next plane to Berlin. My mom cant explain things, so there wasn't any point in me asking her later what had happened. I do not want her ever to feel scared, or vulnerable, or naive. The doctor and one point gave her lunch and assured me that she would be accompanied to her plane, and I assured him I would be waiting for her at the gate in Berlin.

Christian and I picked her up together. She was delirious. She was sleep deprived, hungry, and confused. Any normal person would be that way after flying 13 hours and spending another 13 hours in an airport. I looked into her eyes and knew she had probably forgot about the whole incident, which was better than her dwelling upon a miserable experience.

We took a taxi from Berlin Tegel airport to my apartment. She thought we were in her car, and asked what I did to the mirrors which had a white rim around them. I tried to just keep her alert and all i wanted was for her to get some sleep. The deliriousness continued into the next day when she looked outside and asked me what area of Seattle we were in.

I took her to a salon for some pampering. She deserves it. She got a nice cut and her hair dyed brown. My mom looked beautiful afterwards. She looked refreshed and 10 years younger. She was smiling, which nowadays is worth every penny. I tried to restore some sense into her, and explain that she flew across an ocean and was now in Germany. She didn't remember flying so far. She was amazed that she was here in Berlin.

We walked around the first day and she recognized some places from her visit 3 years before, which was good, and I finally realized that traveling for my mother would never be the same again.