Aachen Adventures...

Have you ever had one of those days? And you pretty much knew it was going to be one of those days, but you just couldn't stop yourself? Today was that day. A little while back, I'd asked Erika if she wanted to go to Aachen, Germany, with me today. At that point, I really hadn't thought about how tired I'd be after spending the previous day in Antwerp, and then heading to The Netherlands last night for a meeting about school sports. I debated it all night, and had pretty much decided not to go. Then morning came, and I changed my mind again. Even though I wasn't feeling it, I decided to keep the date and head over. This morning, before Russ left to go to work, he said "I wish you weren't going to Aachen today. I'm just not feeling it." Hmmm. Kind of eerie, but I didn't mention my earlier feelings and told him it was fine. Then Erika showed up and said she was ready to go, but she'd been having a really bad morning. "Everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong", she said. "It's like something is telling me that I shouldn't go to Aachen today." OK, now I'm starting to get worried. Does this mean something really bad is going to happen if I go to Aachen? Ugh. I'm not really that superstitious, but when it keeps slapping you in the face, you feel like you have to pay attention. There was some serious debate in the drive way, but we decided to risk it and take off. After an uneventful drive, we found ourselves in the city. We did some light shopping, picked up a snack, and decided to hit Starbucks and head home. On my way out of the store, I noticed a little girl and boy playing on the outside of the automatic doors. They kept slapping the doors and giggling. As I approached the doors, the boy slapped both hands on them. This was at the same time the doors slid open, trapping his little hand between the pieces of glass. I looked at him, he looked at me, then he looked at his hand that was now pinned between two pieces of glass and started to howl. Loudly. Then all heck broke loose. His Mom came running from the outside and started yanking on his arm. I started yanking on the door from the inside. The little girl started crying. Everyone was yelling. Or staring. Or both. Total chaos, until finally, his little hand popped free. The Mom and boy walked away. He was sniffling, but feeling better now that he wasn't trapped by in a door by a strange foreigner. I walked the other way, relieved that he was OK, feeling a little guilty that he got trapped, but also wondering what kind of mother lets her kid play with an automatic door. Seriously. Whew. Erika and I decided that we'd had enough excitement for the day, and headed on home. As we approached the border between Germany and The Netherlands, things slowed down a lot. Then even more. Eventually, we were traveling at a crawl. There was a police road block ahead, and they were checking papers. As we approach the Politie, I am doing a mental check list. No problem. I have my driver's license, passport, and ...crap. I don't have my International Driver's License. I'm going to be detained at the border. Strip searched. Fined. Locked in a German or Nederland jail for months, and all because I didn't bring the proper paperwork. And that's not the worst part. I'm going to have to listen to Russ tell me that he didn't want me to go to begin with. He didn't have a good feeling about this. I should have listened to my husband. UGH! Soon, we make it to the front of the line. We pull up to the Politie and...they waved us on through. What? That's it? Relief. I pick up speed and head on to the house. Home sweet home. I'm going to spend the rest of the day hiding in bed with a good book. And I will never....never....ever....leave the house again when I'm not feeling it. It's just too nerve racking. I don't think I can handle the strain.