My sister

A great many years ago I was told by my then boyfriend Jens that I had to meet a girl he knew because she reminded him so much of me. Being a curious person I went along to be introduced and not seeing the obvious both of us decided that we had enough in common to perhaps strike a friendship, later that day someone came into the pub who knew Stella and said "hey Stella I did not know you had a sister" from then on it has been just like that anytime we are togeather.
She has visited me in Vancouver when she was traveling the world and I was on one of my trips home, and of course we hung out while I was living in Germany and she was back finishing her university degree. Even her parents have visited and became good friends with mine.
Over the years more and more people seem to believe that we were sisters so we concocted a story about how I was the younger (by one year) half sister from Canada, we would tell people that we had the same Dad and different Mom's and years later we found out about each other. It just stuck and many people believed it too.
The photo was taken over 10 years ago.... but not that much has changed in either of us.About 4-5 years ago she had moved to Hamburg to be with her partner and I somehow did not make the time to see her very often and we lost touch a little.
This past Dec she gave birth to Little Noah and as I had not yet seen her little boy or her for ages I decided enough was enough and I booked a ticket to Hamburg for last weekend.
I arrived Friday morning very early at Schiphol for my flight, and had a few hours to kill waiting for the plane. Like any good consumer I went shopping to try and kill the time, I even found a bottle of Dalwhinnie 1989 year old single malt. It was from the year I graduated High School so it makes it even more special to remind me of the last16 years.
After arriving and finally sorting out a bus to get me downtown I made my way to her house where we had a chance to chat before Noah woke from his nap, after we got him fed and ready and prepaired to go out. We first had lunch at a nice little cafe then walked around the corner and had a coffee where the coffee shop owner asked her if her sister was in town visiting.
We sat in the sun and really got caught up on what has been happening in our lives, I find it always amazing that with some friends you don't always have to see them or be near them to stay close we both mentioned that it did not seem as long as it was and were amazed at how much had happened in our lives over the past years.
Then we started walking through the park in Hamburg all the while chatting and looking at the beautiful colours and enjoying the warmest fall day I can remember. This park (which I cannot remember the name of) is really amazing and beautiful and big, it has a wide variety of plants, water, and paths to keep you occupied for hours on end, not to mention museams, gardens and things to see and do.
Little Noah was a Buddha like child sleeping most of the time or lying on his tummy in supported cobra pose (yoga speak) and getting all exited whenever a dog was near as well as being so sweet and checking over his shoulder to make sure I was still there and smiling a lot. What a doll. Her and I walked around and chatted for the better part of 6 hours, about everything you might imagine. But it started getting dark and we needed to head back to get Noah home.
After I left her place I walked quickly down into the shops to see if I might find my dream boots... The shop Stella pointed out had them a size to small and in Banana colour which is not really my thing so I headed to the train station and made my way to Bremen.
After a slight mix-up and another train to Bremen North I met with Guddi and Silke at their manager's house where he was celebrating his birthday. It is strange where people have their priority's. He is the exact same age as her and I and already 3 kids, house cars etc etc.. so strange to imagine that it could have been either one of us.
On Sat we took Anna (the dog) and headed into town to window shop and walk about in the beautiful weather. After "some" deliberation Guddi got a new piercing.. heehee wasn't that right Guddi-Girl? and just really hung out and relaxed.
On Sunday I wanted to go and wish a happy birthday to my German Mom, Sybille but her and Hans had gone on a trip somewhere so we took Anna out and went for a walk to the Harbour and then got me to the train just in time to catch it. I made it back to Hamburg, caught the bus the the airport and had a few hours to kill there before heading back to Holland. A whirlwind visit with my dearest friends, and a very relaxing one as well, no parties, no stress just girlfriend time made for a nice weekend.
This time not so much with a heavy heart I landed in Schiphol and headed back to the Hague.