summer of '90 "re-entry"

I remember:

• Being used to fresh bread, real meat, obtained at outdoor markets and groceries. In America it was saran-wrapped sandwiches or plastic encased cheese/cracker lunchables.
• There was Amtrak, so there's that, but wow was it inconsequential for travel anywhere that I was familiar with.
• The European map and the huge German flag hanging in my dorm room that fall, prolonging things.
• Hearing about the Christmas Markets and fervently wishing to see one. Years later when it was obvious that would never happen, I had desires to at least buy brewed Gluhwein or make spicy wine drinks.
• Stopping in a hiker's lodge on an Alpine hiking trail near Zell am See in Austria's Alps. There was a hiker's club shield hanging over the thick wooden benches, right next to windows looking out onto predictable crazy scenery. Beers served in stout mugs. Antique hiking staffs on the wall. Thinking about the notion of belonging to such a hiker's club in this place, another impossibility.

The general shrugging off of dreams that were lit that summer rolled on down through the years. You get used to thinking that you won't have much of these experiences unless it is a quick trip or if you actually live there, and mostly both are difficult or pricey. So you won't feel a lot of that stuff again. Sigh oh well. Eventually the maps fade out and the writing disappears off the mugs you bring back.

And then one there is an email, and the dream comes rushing back in, over-flowing the reservoir and knocking your consciousness on its butt with possibility. Unbelievable, we're going back.