Thread by @kejames

Nutella is trending, and I have a Nutella story that has an unresolved ending, so I figure I’d better strike while the iron’s hot. Everyone comfy? Okay…

When I was a very little girl, in the mid-1970s, we lived in Germany. My dad was stationed at @RamsteinAirBase. 1/

The world’s best babysitter Liesl 🙌🏻 introduced me to both Haribo gummy bears and Nutella. To me, she was a supernatural being, like the White Witch with her Turkish Delight was to Edmund. But not, you know, evil. 2/

Liesl would stay with me for days at a time when my parents and brother would go skiing over in Switzerland. They said I was too young. I still haven’t forgiven them.

On top of being fun and bringing me magical confections, she was kind. So kind. I loved her. 3/

When we moved back to the States (via a memorable side-trip to @LEGOLANDWindsor, where I fell and gashed my head), we lived in Virginia, where dad worked at the Pentagon.

But here’s the key point: GUYS, THERE WAS NO NUTELLA. 😭😭😭 /4

Back then, before globalization and the internet and stuff, they didn’t sell it here.

Years went by, and we moved to Colorado where dad worked at (and we lived on) @AF_Academy, but I never forgot the taste and smell of that creamy, hazelnut-chocolate perfection. /5

One year at Christmas, my mom found a jar of Nutella at a German imports shop and put it in my stocking. I devoured it, waves of nostalgia washing over me. Mom probably paid $10 for that one little jar. Thanks, mom. /6

Then one day when I was a student at @ColoradoStateU, I was in the grocery store with my friends and… THERE IT WAS. Nutella. Jars and jars of it. And reasonably priced! I screamed and cried, right there in the peanut butter aisle. /7

Now I always have a jar of Nutella in the cupboard. I like to spread it on soft bread and carry it to eat as a snack while skiing. Eating a Nutella sandwich on a chairlift is one of my happy places.

But here’s the unresolved ending: I never heard from or saw Liesl again. /8

Sometimes I wonder if she’s out there, and remembers spoiling a little American girl named Karen who’s dad worked at the air base. I want to thank her for her kindness (and the Nutella of course), learn about her life, and ask her what she remembers about me and my family. /9

Liesl, are you out there?

I guess you’d be in your 60s or 70s now. We lived in an apartment in Mackenbach.

And I adored you. /end

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