My Large Family: An adventure
Single mother with nine children
As recently as two years ago, their world was still intact. Jürgen and Anne Katzmarek lived with their ten children in a row house in Salzgitter. After saving for ages, they treated themselves to a family vacation in Bavaria. For the first time, the entire group travelled south, taking accommodations at a farm in Nussdorf owned by another large family – in this case with six sons. Afterwards, the members of the Katzmarek family agreed: “It was the loveliest vacation we've ever had“. Plans to repeat the experience two years later seemed as good as assured.
But today, everything is different. After bringing 10 children into the world, Anne and Jürgen Katzmarek have separated! The man of the house moved out in late January, leaving Anne to “run things on her own“. “I feel as though I've been set free”, she says. The problems surfaced not long after their dream vacation in Bavaria. When Anne, now 38, become sterilized, having decided to bear no more children, the marriage became dysfunctional. At long last, Anne wanted to do something for herself. She changed her diet drastically. The formerly overweight mother lost 57 kg, and started to feel better than she had in ages. “I’m not just sitting around any longer. I'm more active, I can ride a bicycle and play sports. My husband seems to have a problem with that“. After he moved out, she reorganized the house. “Finally, the older kids have their own rooms – I’m sleeping in the living room.“ Her children are still the most important thing in the world. But she has learned that to be happy, she has to think of herself as well. She wants to lose another 20 kg, and is working hard at it. Now that she feels physically fit again, she has begun to train twice weekly at soccer with her daughters.
As a single mother, she finds school vacations a real challenge. For the first time, she is at home alone with her children. Another Bavarian vacation is not an option, and it is taking a while for her to get used to spending the entire day alone with her nine lively children (the eldest has now moved out). Jürgen Katzmarek visits only sporadically. “He could do more“, comments Anne. After the school holidays, when things return to normal, she breaths a sigh of relief. After 20 years of bearing and caring for children, Anne Katzmarek realizes that life offers other possibilities, including some highly rewarding ones. She still thinks fondly of their holiday in Bavaria. “But things are fine just the way they are. I wouldn’t trade my new life for the old one.“
