If someone had told me back then…Part 1 – Teenage dreams, life… and an unexpected turn

-Some dreams don’t disappear. They wait — sometimes for a lifetime.-

When you have a dream at 13, one of two things usually happens:

1. The dream feels within reach.
Not immediately — but possible.
You can do something about it.
Maybe you can actively work toward it, like a kid who desperately wants to become a firefighter.
The dream is still far away, but not unreachable.
2. And then there are the other dreams.
The ones that are so far away that deep down, you already know:
this will probably never happen.

And if someone had told me back then
that this dream would find me again more than thirty years later…
and suddenly no longer feel impossible,
I probably wouldn’t have believed it.

In Germany, Married… with Children first aired in 1992 on RTL.
I think I discovered it around 1993.

What really struck me back then:
I felt kind of alone with it.
All my friends were watching Dynasty or The Bold and the Beautiful —
I couldn’t relate to that at all.

But it didn’t matter.
I had my own little Bundy world — and I truly loved that show.

And my mom, especially, was amazing about it.
I got posters, books, cassette tapes, a Bundy T-shirt,
and later even blank VHS tapes so I could record the episodes.

There were a few negotiations when it came to the so-called “Bundy nights,”
when RTL would air episodes until four in the morning.
Of course, I wanted to stay up.

With a lot of persuasion, she even joined the RTL Club for me.
I think there was a magazine included (if I remember correctly) —
and somewhere in there, I came across a contest:

“Meet Ed O’Neill in Venice” — or something like that.

I still remember what he was wearing and how he posed on the cover.
And of course, I had to enter.

Which brings us right back to scenario number two.

For a brief moment, it felt like scenario one —
but whether the postcard I sent back then
ever actually reached anyone… who knows.

The Bundys were part of my entire teenage years.
And honestly, yes — Los Angeles, America is far away —
but back then, it was more than just distance.

There was no internet.
Only what TV or magazines showed you.
No direct access, no real sense of closeness.

Because of that, everything felt even farther away.
Almost unreachable.

And on top of that, I was simply far too young anyway.

For the next twenty years, the Bundys more or less disappeared from my life.

After finishing high school, I trained as a hotel professional
and spent many years working in that field.
Different cities, different hotels — always giving a lot.

I functioned. I worked. I took on more and more.
And somewhere along the way, I lost a part of myself.

In 2013, I left the hotel industry
and started working at the front desk of an insurance agency.

And again, I quickly ended up taking on everything that came my way.
I just couldn’t say no.

No blame on anyone —
I had simply defined myself through my work.

At some point, I was completely lost when it came to myself.

Long story short…
Around 2017, my body slowly started to push back.
By 2020, nothing worked anymore.

My body simply took what I hadn’t been giving it.

I don’t want to go into more detail about that here.
But… during that time, I somehow found my way back to
Married… with Children.

And suddenly I realized
how much everything had changed over the years.

I was honestly surprised by how big the Bundy community still is.
How much the show is still celebrated —
and that back then, as a teenager, I wasn’t “weird” at all,
but actually kind of cool for being a Bundy fan.

And just like that, it all started again.

I bought all the seasons on DVD (in German),
and later started watching the show again in English.

Which isn’t always easy —
a lot of expressions don’t translate directly,
they carry their own meaning.

I also got to know the cast a bit better —
through interviews and background stories I never had access to back then.

Suddenly, everything felt much closer.
I was right back in it.

And at the same time, there was a sense of longing.
I would have loved to see the cast live…

Then came October 29, 2025.

That was the morning
I saw an article on Facebook about a reunion planned for January 2026.

At first, I thought: sure — fake.

But it quickly became clear that it wasn’t.

My next thought:
Okay… well, of course. In Los Angeles — where else.
That’s not going to happen.

And then, all of a sudden:
Why not.

Damn… I want to go.

And that’s where the real journey began…

Not just to Los Angeles,
but also a little back to myself.

For the first time, I wanted to do something truly just for me…