Cathy was driving up the Autobahn at just over 100 mph. It was the 8th of August, 1982. I was a Captain in the Army, and mom and dad had been visiting us in Germany for about 10 days.  We were heading from Stuttgart to Wurzburg to link up with a friend and go to a Weinfest in the small town of Frickenhausen. Ric had been to the fest the night before, and called to tell us we needed to make this one – it was really good. We didn’t want to be late and Cathy covered the 100 miles in about an hour. We parked, walked up to the tent, and  Ric greeted us as we arrived.

          “How’s it going”?

          “Good – how was the fest last night”?  

          “It was crazy – you are going to love it. People were standing on the benches clapping and singing to the music. You couldn’t hear yourself think”!

We introduced Ric to mom and dad, and he retold the story of people dancing, clapping and singing while standing on the benches around the tables.

At that point, mom interjected – “Well, I don’t think I’ll be standing on the benches – not with my bad leg”. We looked at mom, but didn’t say anything. We then entered the festival tent, and joined about 2,000 Germans for the fest. We found a table, and then Ric and I went to get some wein for the five of us.

The night went on, and we had more wine. Somewhere along the way we had brats and other food. The band was in the center of the tent and playing lots of great oompa music and polkas. Cath and I danced a couple of times and everybody was feeling pretty good.

And then it happened. The band shifted gears and broke into Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood”, one of mom and dad’s favorite songs. Dad grabbed mom’s hand to head to the dance floor. Mom resisted only briefly, and then followed dad towards the floor. They got to the main aisle, and it was jammed with people dancing and they couldn’t get any further, so they started dancing there.

If you never saw my folks dance, I have to tell you, they were GREAT dancers. Like many couples who had been together for a long time, they had their own style. Cathy and I use to call the way they danced the ‘Bill and Gen’ – it was a modified boogie-woogie. They were perfect at it when dancing to “In The Mood”.

So, there they were, in the middle of the aisle, doing the ‘Bill and Gen’ dancing to Glenn. A space started forming around them as other nearby couples stopped dancing and started watching them. The space turned into a circle. The circle got bigger. Soon, there was a circle of maybe 20 feet around them, with all of the Germans watching the two dance. But it didn’t stop there. Behind the first circle, the Germans were standing on the benches and formed a second circle around mom and dad. They were in the zone. The band got to that great coda at the end of the tune, and with the third and final repeat of the last stanza, the song finally ended. 

There was a fraction of a a second of silence, and then the crowd went nuts. They were clapping, pointing, stomping and whooping all at the same time. As mom and dad made their way back to the table, the Germans were slapping them on the back, toasting them, and offering them glasses of wein and schnapps. It was a perfect moment. Mom was flushed and smiling. Dad was outright laughing.

Later that night, mom was standing  on the benches with the rest of us. Clapping, singing, and moving her feet in time with the music…..