A Year of Firsts

When Marcel arrived in the U.S., he was excited and ready for new adventures despite being completely exhausted.  He claimed to be nervous even as he smiled big.  I admired him for the way he immersed himself in a new country, new language and new family.  You never would have guessed that he had never spent more than a layover in an English-speaking country.  And he went with the flow as we all figured out our new daycare routine with him as our au pair.  He rolled with the punches, or maybe I should say with the swing of hammers, as our house continued to be dismantled around him in a renovation that never ceases.    

Marcel has experienced a lot of firsts these past few weeks.  First diaper change ever.  (Really!)  First load of laundry.  (Again, really!  I'm going to embarrass him here, but his mom still did his laundry for him back in Germany.)  First taste of tofu.  (As he scarfed down the lasagna dinner, he had no idea the "ricotta" was actually tofu.)  First American date.  Probably first time he's been carded at a bar. First soccer game on American soil, which also included his first hat trick during an American soccer game.  First trip to Las Vegas.  First time on water skis.  And as a birthday gift, tickets to his first NFL game, a surprisingly welcomed gift by an otherwise soccer-obsessed German.  

To me, Marcel has earned all these firsts.  Back home he's lived in the same apartment building his entire life.  The same building that his dad, grandparents, aunt and a cousin also live in.  His mother lives three blocks away.  Most of his friends he's known since he was a kid.  The same person has been cutting his hair his whole life.  That's how tight-knit his world was.  Yet he chose to step out of his comfort zone and live with another family for a year, and in Minnesota of all places.  I'm pretty sure he had never heard of Minnesota just five months ago when we first interviewed him.

The other night Marcel came home from a goodbye party for a fellow au pair.  I asked him how the party was and he paused and then said with a tinge of sadness and disbelief, "A year goes by quickly."  I'm sure a year felt like a long time when he said goodbye to his family and friends back home, but it is relatively short with all the "firsts" I know he's going to need to fit in that time.