Within the first weeks we encountered several local examples of transatlantic bonds.
At the flower shop and nursery, where we bought two huge hanging baskets of petunias, the cashier volunteered that her sister was living in Seatte, Washington, where she worked as a nurse.
Our contractor told us that the in-laws of one of his workers lived in Florida.
The dentist's brother had spent some time as an intern in Seattle. The internship had come about through the support of the chief medical officer at a U.S. base not far away. That U.S. base, by the way, had been the second largest town in our neck of the woods for decades.
One day we were at the supermarket. We were almost done but were standing in the last isle before the checkout discussing if we were really done.
A black male in his late forties or early fifities, wearing a German style blue coverall, steered his cart past us. "Pardon me", he said.
The big smile he sported as said this was remarkable. The smile said "Hey guys, I recognize you, welcome."
We saw him several times in the subsequent weeks, once he crossed the street in front of our car at the car parts factory which is the biggest surviving industrial employer in town.
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