My husband spotted them in the airport first. My dad's familiar stride caught my eye; his tall, almost hunched forward walk {I know it so well} out of the gate. My mom was behind him, anxiously looking around. Her face lit up as she finally saw mine & tears formed in all our eyes as we joyfully reunited. Three Bonnie family members across a sea & many countries. I will never forget that moment, there in the airport, seeing my Michigan parents in the Czech Republic.
The week was spent playing tour guide to some of our favorite places in Prague. We walked the beautiful gardens & secret paths of Petrin, filled with seasonal apple blossoms in the orchards. Prague castle, Old Town, & the Jewish Quarter were {of course} places we took my parents, though the streets were noisy & crowded most of the time. The Charles Bridge was especially overloaded with spring visitors, but it was wonderful all the same. It was nice showing my family around this fairytale city I had carved into a home, & they soaked up every bit of history & quality time spent with us; every day an adventure of European beauty & great food. We ate French roasted chicken & Czech dumplings & crispy Italian pizza, with plenty of gelato & beer in between. We stopped for trdelnik, a very tourist-y dessert of baked sugary dough filled with ice cream or nutella, a rite of passage for anyone making a trip to Prague. Then we sailed the Vltava River to Vysehrad, the sky light blue & clear, reflecting onto the water.
It was a good feeling having my parents here with me. Our family, with all its past cracks & fragility, became a more solid substance in the week we roamed Prague together. At the end of our week, I hugged my mom & dad goodbye at their bus stop. I told them some of the places we liked in Vienna & to call me the minute they arrived in Austria. I felt a great rush of gratitude for them as the bus drove away down the cobblestone streets, two people who have known me my entire life; following my journey around the world & back.