Day 157–American Vacation

As opposed to “European Vacation” to the average American, I suppose visiting the states to the Europeans is “American Vacation”.  Meet my oldest brother, Ronald and my sister-in-law, Jose.  They are native Hollanders living in a village called “Abcoude” in the Netherlands.  He is the oldest of 8, I am the youngest.  There is a 23-year age difference between us. 

While growing up, Casey and I knew that we had a brother in the Netherlands somewhere.  Growing up as an only child, Ronald had no clue that he would be the oldest brother of 5 other half siblings and 2 step siblings in the United States until about 8 years ago, which was the first time we met.  Ronald’s mom and my dad were married a mere 3 months.  The couple divorced and Ronald was given a different last name as an infant.  My dad was unable to track him down in Europe.  My brother found my dad through the American Red Cross and brought his wife to the states to meet the family he never knew he had in 2003.

I remember during that first meeting, I kept catching Jose, his wife, staring at me.  Later I found out that she was in disbelief in how I resembled their oldest daughter, Karen, who was just a few years younger than me.  We both had blonde hair, blue eyes, a similar build and our two front teeth even had the same small gap in between them.  We all couldn’t believe how Ronald had similar mannerisms (ie: talking with his hands) and stature as dad. 

In 2004, Casey, and I, along with dad, visited Ronald and Jose in Holland at their home in Abcoude to get to know them better and meet our nieces, Karen and Daphne.  Ronald graciously took us to many of Amsterdam’s tourist attractions such as the Van Gogh Museum, Rembrant Square, The Anne Frank House, The North Sea and even the Red Light District (we went during the day, haha).  We even met our “Oma” (grandma) for the first time together.  At the time she was 94, and is now 100. 

Since then, Ronald and Jose have visited the states 2 more times and even brought their best friends, Pauline and Ruud, who have also become good friends of ours.  They love visiting Park City (the men spent half a day in the Tommy Hilfiger outlet store and Ronald was their best customer that day).  They are in awe with how inexpensive, houses, cars, gas and clothes are here.  They love to take my dad’s truck and visit the surrounding sights and cities.  They are currently visiting Yellowstone and will be touring the U.S. for the next 5 weeks.   

Ronald and his family are an important part of my heritage.  They represent my family roots and where I come from.  Last night at dinner, we discovered that we have the same nose.  How did we not notice that before?  We are both teachers and real estate agents as well.   I am so glad to have them as a part of my life and hope to visit them in Holland again soon.   

From left to right, top to bottom:

Me, Mom, Pauline, Jose, Ruud, Ronald, Justin and Dad