Straight Female / 49
You can tell from my 69 years that this happened a long time ago. My father was in the military and he was posted overseas as the military attaché to the embassy where we lived. I was eleven. My father was a tank officer in the war. We lived in a nice house and went to a nice school, mostly American kids and a few kids from other countries, and a few really well to do kids from the country we lived in.
One kid who was a fifteen liked me and he kept after me. At school I was recognized as his girlfriend and I had to sit with him for lunch. In that country if you are the girl you bring the boy's lunch to school, you set his lunch out for him, and you sit with him. My mother wasn't sure about all that but she went along and sent his lunch with me and she asked me about my boyfriend and one of the ladies who played cards with her told her that I was lucky because he was the son of one of the wealthy families in the country.
There was a party at his house, for all kind of important people and he told me I had to be there to be with him. My mother felt that was not the thing to do but she bought me a dress and shoes and a white purse and had my hair done and the embassy car took me to his house. Everyone was so enamored with me, all these older ladies, he took me around to everyone and introduced me as his girlfriend. After the dinner, we sat at his parent's table and at least there the maids served us and I didn't have to serve him, his father asked lots of questions and when I told him my father was in the war he asked even more questions I didn't know the answers to.
After dinner we went out on the patio overlooking the pool and he kissed me, my first official kiss as his girlfriend. After that we held hands. No one seemed to mind that I was eleven, everyone treated me like I was his age. When it was time to go home, his father called one of his cars and told my boyfriend to escort me home and he asked me to please give this letter to my father.
Well to summarize, my boyfriend's father was in the German army during the war and he invited my father to a dinner of reconciliation. We were invited to their farm in the country and we were taken there by the embassy car. The farm was huge, a real palace type of place, room after room, maids all over the place. My boyfriend walked me around by the hand and we sat together for lunch and my father and his father had a conversation and everyone else shut up. I heard my father talk about the war for the first time. My boyfriend's father talked about the war and his mother got up and cried. My mother kept me in her eyes. They drank this German Schnapps. They stood up and gave a toast for all the boys that didn't come home. To seal the reconciliation my boyfriend's father asked for my hand for his son. Not right then later when we were grown up.
There was some silence and my father asked me if that is what I wanted and I looked at my boyfriend and said I did. I was engaged, there was a party in the city home later on, when my father was transferred again I stayed with my new family. I got married at sixteen. I have lived there all these years, the daughter-in-law of a German soldier that fought against my father in the war. It has never left my mind. My father told me the day I got married it was my duty to make up for the boys that were lost. I did, I have six sons.
My father died. I will miss him. My father-in-law died several years ago. I have a German name. I have gone to France and Germany where my father fought. In his honor my husband is taking me and my sons and their families to Luxemburg, where our fathers faced each other all those years ago.
One kid who was a fifteen liked me and he kept after me. At school I was recognized as his girlfriend and I had to sit with him for lunch. In that country if you are the girl you bring the boy's lunch to school, you set his lunch out for him, and you sit with him. My mother wasn't sure about all that but she went along and sent his lunch with me and she asked me about my boyfriend and one of the ladies who played cards with her told her that I was lucky because he was the son of one of the wealthy families in the country.
There was a party at his house, for all kind of important people and he told me I had to be there to be with him. My mother felt that was not the thing to do but she bought me a dress and shoes and a white purse and had my hair done and the embassy car took me to his house. Everyone was so enamored with me, all these older ladies, he took me around to everyone and introduced me as his girlfriend. After the dinner, we sat at his parent's table and at least there the maids served us and I didn't have to serve him, his father asked lots of questions and when I told him my father was in the war he asked even more questions I didn't know the answers to.
After dinner we went out on the patio overlooking the pool and he kissed me, my first official kiss as his girlfriend. After that we held hands. No one seemed to mind that I was eleven, everyone treated me like I was his age. When it was time to go home, his father called one of his cars and told my boyfriend to escort me home and he asked me to please give this letter to my father.
Well to summarize, my boyfriend's father was in the German army during the war and he invited my father to a dinner of reconciliation. We were invited to their farm in the country and we were taken there by the embassy car. The farm was huge, a real palace type of place, room after room, maids all over the place. My boyfriend walked me around by the hand and we sat together for lunch and my father and his father had a conversation and everyone else shut up. I heard my father talk about the war for the first time. My boyfriend's father talked about the war and his mother got up and cried. My mother kept me in her eyes. They drank this German Schnapps. They stood up and gave a toast for all the boys that didn't come home. To seal the reconciliation my boyfriend's father asked for my hand for his son. Not right then later when we were grown up.
There was some silence and my father asked me if that is what I wanted and I looked at my boyfriend and said I did. I was engaged, there was a party in the city home later on, when my father was transferred again I stayed with my new family. I got married at sixteen. I have lived there all these years, the daughter-in-law of a German soldier that fought against my father in the war. It has never left my mind. My father told me the day I got married it was my duty to make up for the boys that were lost. I did, I have six sons.
My father died. I will miss him. My father-in-law died several years ago. I have a German name. I have gone to France and Germany where my father fought. In his honor my husband is taking me and my sons and their families to Luxemburg, where our fathers faced each other all those years ago.
