Summer Vacation
On July 23rd, 1997, two days before Denise's twenty fifth birthday, Dieter arrived in California. What a birthday present! Denise's Friends threw a party for her at Chevy's "on the levy" in Sacramento and it was the start of a marvelous summer vacation. During that summer the couple spent their time at the beach and growing close. Then on August 23rd in Carmel-By-The-Sea, under the knarled Cypress tress over looking the Pacific Ocean, Dieter presented Denise with a beautiful ring and nervously yet cordially asked her to be his wife.
Animated image of Carmel-By-The-Sea
In September Denise took Dieter home to Minnesota to meet her parents. Luckily, they approves of him. All was well. However, there was still some tribulation to go through. Dieter still had one semester of school to finish back in Germany. It would not have been practical at all for him to transfer schools so he journeyed back in October once more to begin his final semester, at the end of which he also had a thesis paper to do. So the couple was looking at at least five months apart.
But Denise never giving up or giving in so easily to trying conditions, saw potential for a great experience. Realizing she really didn't have much to lose but a lot to gain, she called Dieter up one day late in October and informed him that he should prepare for her arrival in Frankfurt on December 11th. Dieter, being a practical person, was not sure about this plan at first but after sleeping on it for a night, he though it was a good idea.
Denise took a month to prepare for the details of moving. She broke the
news to her employer and friends. Preparing to leave her friends was the most difficult
part but as always, they supported her at every turn and, in fact, were very happy for
her. She closed up her apartment found storage for all her earthly belongings and flew off
first to Minnesota to spend time with her family before Christmas, then to Germany.