What the daughter gets up to on her first trip with her parents
Our daughter is away travelling. And the family chat group is in chaos.
No, we're not bombarding her with advice. We've already done that. We told her to fasten the zip on her rucksack. And to steer clear of stray dogs. Of tap water, mosquitoes, and taxis she hasn't booked herself. The only thing we didn't warn her about was quicksand, simply because she isn't visiting a desert. (Or did we?)
Just like that, we were able to let her go . We'd encouraged her too . «It'll be fine,» we said when she started to feel a bit uneasy. And so we saw her off, just like Baloo and Bagheera in *The Jungle Book* when Mowgli sets off for the human village. «Mowgli, come back!» – «Go on, go on!»
And then she left. («It was inevitable, Balu!») Ever since , we rush to our mobile phones the moment they light up. Of course, we mutter to ourselves: «Back in the day, when you sent a fax home once a week, you were «properly» away.» But Marco Polo would laugh. And after all, we want to know how she's sorting out the bedbug problem.
Race for the fastest reaction
Hold on, a sunset photo. «Ooh,» I write, adding a star-eyed emoji. Only my sister is quicker . My husband is minutes behind with his sticker. But overall, we're in an unprecedented race to see who can react fastest the moment our daughter gets in touch.
Then, all of a sudden, a WhatsApp message just to me! «Got a cough, is it bad?» I send some motherly words and proudly show off my information advantage to the others. Only to find out that my husband had asked for transfer tips the day before and had been rewarded with a picture of the skyline…
We've been sharing the household chores for years – apart from perhaps the coughing – and now she's assigning us specific responsibilities?
Okay, coughs are more my area of expertise. But why is she asking him about transfers? «Everything okay?» I text her the next day. I get a video of a lizard straight back. The fact that I've broken my own minimum rule of letting go – not starting a conversation myself – doesn't matter! I realise my husband doesn't have a set rule either.
That's why we have specialist departments, as is slowly but surely becoming clear. His: connections, eSIM cards, cash withdrawals from ATMs. Mine: accommodation, transport safety and health matters («if I accidentally drink water with ice in it, am I going to die now?»). We've shared the family chores for years – apart from perhaps the coughing – and now she's assigning us clear responsibilities?
Happy when she's back
But you tend to read too much into things when you're far away. The bedbug photo popped up in the family chat again. They were «just» moths, as I was the first to point out. I was about to add that both are better than rabid dogs. But my sister was quicker: «wä omg want my money back bro». After that, the conversation turned to the pros and cons of making a complaint, which I left to my husband until things calmed down again.
We're not quite as quick as we used to be. None of us reacted for ninety minutes after she spoke («stop messing about!»). But hey, back in the day, when we still used fax machines… Besides, it's not exactly the wilderness out there, and we've had moths in the house before.
We'll be happy all the same when she's back soon. Because whatever roles we have in store for her, and however quickly my husband and I respond, we're both a bit like Baloo and a bit like Bagheera at the same time.
