Blog 696- 07.17.2017
(Excerpt from the book, Emily – The Little Girl Who Sang Her Song To Anyone Who Came Along)
Episode 17

Baby’s first Christmas is always a big one and barely a half year into her ever so brief journey Emily’s eyes were a sparkle with all the Christmas lights and tinsel. One of Em’s first Christmas gifts came in the mail from I believe it was her great aunt Dottie who as matriarch of the Murray annual family reunion would one day be a very dear and important person in Emily’s life as she was in Sandra’s, Em’s oldest brother David’s, and so many other lives

That year Aunt Dottie attached hand painted rocking horses instead of bows to the Christmas gifts she mailed. That little Christmas rocking horse would be but the first of a collection that would span the thirty two years of our Christmas Angel’s stay with us. I tried to pick a unique one for her each year.

In February of 1989 I got to travel to then West Germany on business with my company, Mercedes Benz of North America. I was at that time working for them in the Houston Zone Office as Assistant Administrator and Tourist Coordinator. The first part of my title meant I was the assistant office manager handling the coordination of employee medical and other company benefits plus reviewing and forwarding expense reports for the sales and service managers who worked out of the Houston office covering the fifty three Mercedes authorized dealers for which the Houston group was responsible.

There was at that time a large Gray Market for Mercedes Benz automobiles in the United States. This had become a big problem for Mercedes Benz of North America, the only authorized distributor of Mercedes in the U.S. People were importing Mercedes directly from Germany at a substantially cheaper price but the process was fraught with potential problems for customers that could and was in many cases damaging to the brand. Because the factory in Germany made many more models, some quite a bit less expense than those offered through MBNA, many wanting the prestige of driving and owning a Mercedes sought them out. But when it came time to have them serviced the problems began. Many of the parts to repair them were not stocked in the U.S. and in some cases the wiring schematics and repair manuals had to be secured from Germany as well. This resulted in delays and an overall bad experience for customers owning the Gray Market Mercedes. Partly to counter this problem and to strengthen the Mercedes brand MBNA was promoting their Tourist Delivery Program where a buyer could pickup his or her brand new U.S. Authorized Mercedes at the factory in Stuttgart, at a substantially reduced price, drive it around Europe on vacation, and then drop it off at various locations around Europe where it would be prepared, shipped to their authorized North American Mercedes Dealer where they could picked it up all checked out, cleaned, and ready to drive.

As Tourist Coordinator for The Houston Zone I helped our fifty three dealers with questions regarding the program and MBNA thought it might be good if the Tourist Coordinators in all seven U.S. zone offices got to experience or as near as possible what it was like to pick up a new Mercedes at the factory and see a bit of the country. A part of the package was a free stay at a five star hotel in Stuttgart, free round trip airline tickets, and even vouchers for a free meal and taxi fare to the factory. It always amazed me that people rich enough to afford a new Mercedes would call to ask if they could get additional vouchers for free meals and taxis. But, then later I learned when reading several books about the secret to getting and staying rich that one of the pillar principles is to never spend your own money when you can spend someone else’s.

The Tourist Program package at the time offered free round trip airline tickets from New York City to Stuttgart with connecting flights from and returning to your home city. You were allowed to choose from three available airlines: American, Pan Am. and Lufthanza. Since my flight took place just a couple of months after the Pan Am flight was blown up over Lockibee Scotland, everyone thought I would choose one of the other two airlines. Yet I chose Pan Am thinking their security would be the best since they were the one who had suffered the attack and I was correct. Security then was even tighter than that which became standard in the U.S. after 9/11.

I tell you all this about my trip to Germany for background as to how I came upon one of the unique Christmas rocking horses for Emily’s collection. The Allies and especially U.S. bombers decimated many cities in Germany during World War II and late in the war in had been decided by the high command to spare certain older culturally and historically significant cities from destruction. One of those cities was Rotterdam O.T., a stone walled castled city dating back to 1,000 C.E. The German people were so grateful to the U.S. for sparing this treasured city that they made it into one of the most exceptional destinations for tourists visiting Germany. Therefore the Mercedes folks made sure in was on the itinerary of the Tourist Coordinators for our week long adventure in Germany along with touring the Mercedes Benz Museum and Factory in Stuttgart and many other sites in Swabia, the state surrounding Stuttgart.

Germany like the U.S. is a nation made up of many states perhaps more well known to many than Swabia is Bavaria, home of exceptional beers. Each state or region has their own. Bavaria is also home of BMW, Bavarian Motor Works, one of Mercedes competitors, though Mercedes is quick to point out that they are the oldest car manufacturer in the world holding patients on the first two automobiles in 1886. One by Damlier and one by Benz. The name of the company in Germany is Damlier Benz from their merger in the early days. The name Mercedes came from a rich European prince who having purchased several of the very expensive hand made early models required that they be named in honor of his daughter, Mercedes.

While on our tour of Rotterdam O.T. the group was allowed some free time to shop and in a Christmas store I found a metal hand painted rocking horse Christmas tree ornament that reminded me of the tin soldiers of a bygone era so I purchased it for my Christmas Angel Em.

Em’s mom, Sandra, still has the collection of Christmas tree rocking horse ornaments that began with Aunt Dottie’s hand painted one. Whether they ever end up in an All Things Emily museum or not they will occupy this loving father’s heart of treasured memories of a little girl who loved horses, Christmas, and who loved to sing her song to anyone who came along.

Your friend and fellow traveler, Emily’s Dad,
David White