25 Years

Another half decade, another milestone. Just five years ago I was waxing poetic about how we had already been in Germany for 20 years, and now it's already been 25 years. Strangely enough my passport from then bears no entry stamp for 1 September 1990.

At the time our entry into Germany was uncertain. Reunification was in the air, everyone knew it was coming, but the details were still being negotiated behind closed doors. We boarded our plane to Frankfurt on 31 August without knowing our fate. Luckily for us, while our plane was in the air, the "Einigungsvertrag" was signed by BRD Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and DDR State Secretary Günter Krause, clearing the way for our entry into the soon-to-be unified Germany the next day.

That document did however leave several details open. It never was determined whether our cats would remain American citizens or whether they would obtain German citizenship.