After thirty years we met again. I was super excited. I had thought about Hartmut from time to time over the years, what he had experienced over the years? Which person he was now? Still as powerful and full of responsibility for the people who are in his heart, as in our youth? Still the rock in the surf? The hero?
As I walked to our meeting place, I reflect on all that has happened since then. I had used the newfound freedom after the fall of the Wall to finally study my dream job – social pedagogy. I had always been interested in the different stories of people and their motivations for decisions. Financially 100% on my own I made my Abi in Potsdam then began my studies near Chemnitz. I studied and worked to pay my rent and make a living. What jobs I did… Since then I know that I will always get by, because whether waitressing, stocking shelves, promotion it was enough to finance me and my heart studies. And since money has never been the deciding factor for me and my positive attitude towards life is the focus, it was a perfect fit.
After graduation, I worked in many areas of social work – street work, homeless outreach, addiction counseling. I was curious, found it wonderful to accompany people a bit on their journey through life. I got so many destinies, life stories, insights into life plans that I became more and more grateful and humble towards my own life.
Children played a role for me in my work or in my environment. I myself always knew that I wanted to have inner stability and maturity before I dared to start a family. Then I met a man with whom this seemed possible, however, despite all our efforts, we were denied our own children.
Nevertheless, I had my children in a different way. When it was clear we weren’t going to have children of our own, my then-husband and I sat down and wrote on a big sheet, all the options that were now open to us. Then it said: Go abroad for a while, travel around the world, stay childless and enjoy life childless. We agreed that these options were out of the question for us at the moment, as we both felt the desire to have a family with a child. Our eyes turned to the remaining option: adopt or foster a child. We decided that very evening, we would begin, step by step, to walk this path. Promised us, however, should one of us not want to continue on this path, to say so very clearly.
The next day, I called the youth welfare office and arranged an informational appointment with the responsible department.