Love, Airport Reunions, and the Untranslatable German Word "Vorfreude"

I am fortunate to have grown up with two mother tongues (German and Italian), so somehow I always had this passion for languages. What I find particularly interesting is how some words cannot be translated from one language into another.

One of those words is the German word "Vorfreude". The closest translation my friend google could find is something like "pleasant anticipation". So "Vorfreude" is when you are so excited, you cannot wait for something to happen.

Recently, I discovered that this is how pure "Vorfreude" looks like:

This is what you see for what feels like at least half an hour when you wait for your loved one to arrive at Copenhagen Airport. I am the type of guy who sometimes puts ridiculous importance to little things, and one of those little things is that I always have to pick up my wife at the airport when she returns. I never missed a single opportunity to pick her up in almost 5 years and she does the same - and we both travel a lot on business purposes. I hope that we will continue this tradition until old age.

Last Sunday evening, when I took this picture, I have actually been at the airport way too early, because my dad was visiting me in Copenhagen the same weekend she was visiting her family back home in Zurich. I dropped off my dad at 5pm and her flight was scheduled to arrive at 9pm. I did not mind the 4 hours, although I was seriously lacking sleep, but when her flight announced a 2 hour delay, I told her that I could not stay for so long and that I would get some sleep at home.

On my way home I felt so wrong. It would not have been right to let her arrive at the airport alone, with all her heavy luggage, at night, in the cold. So I decided I get some rest for one hour and then I drove back to the airport to surprise her that I would still pick her up although I said I could not make it this time.

So this picture is what I saw for at least half an hour, just like I did the other times I picked up my beloved wife from the airport, and just like how I will hopefully be able continue to do until old age. They say airports have seen more honest kisses than wedding altars. Well, when my wife said yes to me there, the kiss was just as honest as the one we gave us that evening the airport, but I still think it's true. I can understand if you think we are a bit crazy, but honestly I would not want this to change a single bit :-) The "Vorfreude" is not even the best part of it.