The day before...

I called my Dad last night. He and Adreas were out driving around taking photos of people's houses. My Dad said, "We took a picture of Susan's (ny oldest sister's) house but we didn't go in."

This is odd to me except I don't know if he feels exactly welcome in any of my sibling's homes. I am sure there are reasons. I have heard rumors of drunken excess on his part and have witnessed enough of them firsthand. Obviously, he is proud of his children's material accomplishments but he has such a difficult time connecting and feels like such an outsider. Why would he want to keep Andreas to himself? Is he protecting him for some reason.

I have sensed that each time I have called my father in the last two weeks since Andreas has been in town that he has seemed excited to hear from me. "Are you in town?," he always says with a great deal of enthusiasm. When I tell him that I'm not, he seems disappointed.

Strangely, I don't know if any of my brothers and sisters have even met Andreas. My Dad works for my older brother, David, a couple of hours a day as a delivery driver. I don't feel comfortable calling my older brother to ask him because he has some marital problems. So instead I called my nephew Jason who also works with my brother to find out if he has met Andreas yet. He told me that he hadn't.

I wonder if Andreas is uncomforable to meet them because of the whole language barrier but this doesn't account for everything since I know that Andreas speaks a little English and our Dad can translate for him. His English is quite limited, though.

A few weeks before his trip to Utah Andreas called me and left a message on my answering machine. He said, "I speak a little English". And then he cleared his throat for a few seconds and continued, "I fly...Utah..October...okay?"

I have been on a crash course to learn more German. I am a little nervous to speak German with him but I'm sure that we will communicate just fine. I am hoping I can introduce him to more of my siblings once I get there.