I met my husband in Vienna in the year 1935, shortly after I had graduated from teacher’s college and was a qualified teacher of the English language, middle-school
grade. My cousin told me she knew a very nice looking young American who was looking for a person he could converse with in his own language. He felt lonesome.
Would I be available? I was very happy to oblige since I was anxious to become more fluent in English..
The young man had come to Europe for the RCA Institute and was an expert in communications and made installations of Senders and Receivers between various countries. I don’t want to go into details, they are not part of my story.
We met and liked one another immediately. We knew it was going to be a very short relationship because he had to travel from one trouble spot to another. It made me
very sad to think I would never see him again, because we got along so well. We had the same interests, mostly music, sports, sense of humour, photography, and on and on. I felt he was my soul mate.
My older brother warned me: don’t fall in love with him, he probably has a girl in every city he works in. The warning was too late I knew how he felt about me and he told me that I would hear from him shortly.
A half year had passed by without me hearing from him at all. Then I received a letter from Prague asking me to join him. He would be working there for about three months.
I thought quickly; I had an aunt staying in Prague at that time and I asked her if I could visit her for a while. The answer was yes. I quickly packed my bag, told my mother where I was going, did not wait for a discussion and ran to the train station.
At that point, my thinking was that of a very young, silly girl that would have flown to meet him if it had been possible. Instead of waiting a day and taking an Express train, I hopped into the first train moving in the right direction and it went all night, stopping at every white fence along the way.
There are two large train stations in Prague. I had no idea at which one I would be arriving. I did not even know the address of my friend. We were to meet at the Post Office
as soon as I had come in. I did not speak a world of their language. I had my aunt's address in my hands. I approached the first streetcar I saw, got on following my feelings rather than using my brains. I got off and miraculously found myself at my aunt's house number!
I went in and started up the stairs. I heard footsteps coming down and when I looked up, there was my friend coming down to meet me.
My knees buckled and I had to sit right down on the stairs. He did the same. He had gone to check with my aunt if I had arrived yet! She did not know any details. The two halves had to find one another all over the world. That is how it turned out to be for almost seventy happy years.
© Gerta Freeman
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