June 3 2014
Today is one of three special days with my family in the Netherlands. A lot is written about my experiences but John as well as Trevor, Dee, Paul and Pat have learnt a lot about my heritage.
We travelled to Middelaar to visit my dad's side of the family. Mary, my cousin lives next door to the home my father grew up in. The family home was initially half house and half barn but over the years it has been converted into two homes. The Heikantseweg has five homes together with different generations of Hermsen (my maiden name) living in it.
Mary welcomed all of us as if we were family. She was just as I remembered her the last time I visited in 1984. She may have aged and have grown children but she is still the same. She had prepared a great day by informing the family of our arrival in advance, so the whole day relatives were coming and going and so much food to eat. It was more than I had expected.
I saw three of my uncles, one of whom travelled with his son an hour to see me. The other two live in the houses next to Mary. It was so good to see them. Two of them have been in Australia. One uncle was too unwell to visit so we visited him at his home next door.
I met quite a few cousins and their children but most of them I didn't know as they were quite young when I was here previously. They still made me feel very welcome. Jeanine and Hans were the only two others I remembered besides Mary. Even though John, Trevor, Dee, Paul and Pat didn't speak English everyone spoke as much English as they could and they felt very comfortable with my family.
The trip down memory lane was exciting and reminded me of the times I had visited before. A large box of photos and albums came out and even my cousins children, Yvon, Robert and Eefje were surprised at the array of photos there was. There were many of my father as a young man and his visits home with my mother that I had not seen before. Paul took photos of photos that I didn't have so that I would have copies of them. There was a photo of my dad at about 17 yrs and my brother's son Jordan looks just like him. There is certainly strong family resemblances in all the generations.
Prior to our arrival in England Trevor had been constructing my family tree. For the Hermsen family he had gone back to 1760. The visit to Middelaar gave him an opportunity to show everyone what he had found and update information from my father's generation to the present and get as many photos of individual family members as possible. How much the family has grown!!!
During a break in visitors Mary took us to the village, which is about 10 mins walk, to the graves of my grandparents and Mary and Jeanine's parents. The Hermsen men would keep the cemetery tidy and sit and have a drink and have a yarn on the latest news from the village. The family was very community orientated. They have been there for about 2 centuries. Meanwhile my cousins wife, Sonia, took Pat for a walk to the lake that is across the road. They helped each other with difficult words and had an interesting conversation about the surroundings.
Like our grandson, Bailey, the family is very interested in football (soccer in Australia) and they play across the road for a club called Astrantia.
My cousin, Hans, arrived to visit and looks so much like my brother Andrew with a moustache. They have always looked similar and it hasn't changed. He had travelled an hour and quarter to visit and I appreciate him making that journey. Driving that distance here for Europeans is a long way and they are surprised that we would travel four hours in one day and do a return trip. Everything is so much closer here but for them it is far.
We left Middelaar at 9.30pm to return to the campsite after a wonderful day with such a great family. The weather had been kind with sunshine and warmth. However about 15 mins from the camper the heavens opened and unfortunately we had left the tent open to dry our clothes whilst we were away. We arrived to the campsite to find the front of the tent flooded and the clothes wet again. As Trevor and Dee had to sleep in the tent it had to be dried and an alternative place found for the clothes. By the time that was sorted it was 11.30pm.
Good night after a great day and another exciting day tomorrow. xxxx