Lost Luggage and the Art of Traveling Light

Picture it: Luxembourg, 1848…

https://rail.lu/ligneluxembourgechternach.html

It is the middle of a revolution. Dissatisfaction with inequality, the authoritarian government, the lack of civil liberties and a political system that excluded most people from government, caused widespread upheaval. (Wikipedia)

This is the year my great-great grandmother Marie Pauline Wichers was born in the small town of Echternach, Luxembourg. She is why I am in Luxembourg today.

My great-great grandmother Marie Pauline Wichers Kolbusch, staring out of her Brooklyn apartment window in 1924

This journey is part of a string of events that some may consider coincidence, but I see it as setting an intention and asking the Universe to provide, which it did.

Almost exactly 3 years ago, I took a future writing workshop with Makenna Held and Catherine Just. The gist is writing about your future as if something you want has already happened. This allows your brain to play with different ideas, goals, dreams, feelings, anything really, to see if it’s right for you and to help your brain create the neural pathways to really feel into what you are trying to create for yourself so you can manifest it beyond the pages of your journal.

This may come of no surprise, but one of the dreams I have for quite some time is to live in Europe, so shortly after I took the workshop I wrote about my life living somewhere in Europe. I wasn’t specific about the details, just about what I was feeling after living there for a month. From heart to pen, pen to paper, and paper to Universe, I sent my wish into the ether, and then probably went to work or did something else mundane.

My Aunt Margie and me at the climate change rally in Mount Vernon, WA in Nov. 2019

The very next day, my Aunt Margie emailed me about great-great grandma Marie, how she lived until 1926, and how this qualified us to reclaim Luxembourg citizenship. She also sent me a link to an agency that could help us, but according to their website, we had missed the first deadline by 2 days already, and we had to gather all certified documents by the end of the year. I immediately sent an email to the agency and a quick reply got the ball rolling.

Gathering the documents was mostly easy. Since my aunt is a genealogist, we knew all the important dates and names. She had been to Echternach and visited the state archives years before our quest, so what would normally be the most challenging part of an exercise like this was already done.

The more challenging parts we’re getting records from the state of New York where Marie Pauline eventually wound up and generations after her had been born. Fun fact: you did not need a birth certificate if you were born at home in the early 1900s, like my great grandmother. We weren’t sure if this was a deal breaker or not. My aunt found baptismal, social security, and census records, so we included those and hoped for the best.

Another fun fact, the city of New York, where my grandfather was born, won’t allow anyone who isn’t the parent or child listed on the birth certificate to request a copy of one, no matter how long the person has been gone. You can ask for some sort of exception, so we did (it took a year and a half to receive it, which was too late). She had his original so we were able to submit that and hope for the best.

I’m not exactly a person who mentions things, especially if they are meaningful and important, so I only told a few people as all this was going on. Once I received my certificate deeming me certifiably Luxembourgish enough, I told a few more people, but still didn’t say too much. This was too much of a BFD to me to want to tell too many people. What if it didn’t go through? Margie and I were supposed to make our declaration during a trip we planned for last summer, what if we never got to Luxembourg before the final deadline? What if this was all a scam? I didn’t want to have to talk about it if it didn’t go through.

Fortunately, the Luxembourgish government extended the deadline to the end of next year. We moved our trip to 2022, but there’s still too much uncertainty and I have too much anxiety, and I was encouraged by a friend to go ASAP so I don’t miss out on this opportunity. As soon as their borders were opened to US passports, I made my plans, got my final translations, and got myself to Luxembourg.

It’s really pretty here!

I was so excited to plan the visit with my aunt, we were going to go to many of the towns our family is from together. I was a bit devastated when the pandemic canceled those plans, but we will get to them eventually when she returns to make her declaration, hopefully next year.

This is my first time here. I have just applied for citizenship in a country I had never been to. This amount of privilege comes with a bit of guilt. I think about all the people who immigrate to find a better life for themselves and their families. Those who attempt to escape oppression and death only to be turned away or detained and treated inhumanely, my heart hurts for them. My situation is different, and the rules I had to follow were quite different, but the amount of luck, fortune, and privilege I have is something I acknowledge.

The process today was fast. I was in and out of the Bierger Center in 14 minutes. I imagine this is due to the vast amounts of paperwork and such we had already completed and not any sort of bureaucratic efficiency, but maybe it’s both. I’m happy and even more, relieved to have completed the steps to make my dream come true. Now I just wait for my official certificate to come in the mail in 4-5 months. With that I can get my passport. Because Luxembourg doesn’t ask you to renounce any other citizenship you may hold, I can be a dual citizen. I’m stoked, come tax time.

So what is next for me? Am I moving to Luxembourg?

The plan is to move to Europe at some point. I’m not sure where yet. My goal is to learn French and German well enough to moderate research sessions in those languages. They are both extremely difficult languages for me, so we’ll see how that goes 😅 I’m not sure if it’s my forever home, but I’m open to whatever the Universe presents me with. And yes, I’ll have a guest room!

As my step sister Kristi has been calling me, Montine of Luxembourg