Mrs. Martin & Mr. Blohm – Episode Six: Should You Trust Your Gut?

Memories came flooding back. Regina had always been a woman unafraid of decisions. For her, choices were born out of love—whether for a person, a dream, or the hunger for change. And sometimes, decisions only arrived when the suffering of staying the same grew too heavy to bear.

Jumping Into the Unknown

Regina remembered 1991, At twenty-one she had a secure job in Munich’s most exclusive retail store, a small apartment of her own, and even a car. But her English was poor—just two basic school courses. Each time she couldn’t communicate with English-speaking customers, frustration burned inside her. The pain of that limitation grew strong enough that she knew she had to act. So, she quit her job, gave up her apartment, sold her car, and booked a one-year stay in the United States to finally learn English.

Her parents disapproved. Why the US? Why not the UK—closer and cheaper? They even tried to pressure her with money: “If you go to the US, don’t expect support from us.” But Regina didn’t care. She followed her instinct. The Golden Gate Bridge and sunny California pulled her heart far more than grey, rainy London ever could.

Choosing Movement Over Comfort

When she landed in San Francisco, reality hit hard. The city was stunning on postcards, but in real life the fog rolled in daily, the wind cut through her coat, and she quickly realized that sunshine alone wasn’t enough, warmth mattered too. Even Los Angeles felt too cold with its sea breeze. Still, she stayed.

To survive, she became an au pair. The first two families didn’t work out, but the third one did. Dianne, a lawyer with her own firm, and Charlie, who worked in technology, lived in a tiny Victorian house on Bush Street in the center of San Francisco. Their daughters, Marielle (four) and Gianna (six), quickly became Regina’s responsibility. At twenty-one, she was older than most au pairs—usually between sixteen and nineteen—but that made her more reliable. She drove the girls to school, cooked meals, picked them up from soccer, and often cared for them ten hours a day. Their parents, fully absorbed in their careers, trusted her completely. That trust made her proud

Regina could have chosen an easier life. Another family in Pacific Heights had offered her double the pay, only one child to look after, and even her own little garden house. The white mansion, the pristine kitchen, the untouched living room with a swimming pool—it all looked like a magazine. But to her, it felt cold and unreal. The boy had two playrooms upstairs but wasn’t even allowed in the family living areas. Something about it felt wrong.

So, she declined. Instead, she squeezed into a tiny, noisy room facing busy Bush Street, sharing a bathroom with the girls. Why? Because with Dianne and Charlie, it felt real. She belonged.

Charlie fascinated her. On weekends, their house was covered with cables—snaking through rooms, across floors, even onto the porch. Regina hated the mess and tried to hide them until one day Charlie, usually so soft-spoken, raised his voice firmly: “Don’t touch those. One day these cables will be wireless—WLAN. We’ll have internet everywhere.” It was 1991. Regina thought he sounded crazy. What on earth was WLAN? But she could hear how important it was to him, so she never touched the cables again. Much later, she learned that Charlie had been a senior executive at Cisco Systems and later at Silver Lake Partners.

Her visa expired in 1992, and she had to return to Germany. She wasn’t sad to leave San Francisco, the city had never truly felt like home, but she left with precious memories and a lifelong bond with her last au pair family. They visited her in Munich, they spent one summer together in Italy, and she returned to San Francisco nearly every year—also to see her best friend, Eva.

Miami, Love at First Sight

Then, in 1996, Dianne and Charlie told her they had bought a condo in Miami for Charlie’s mother, Ella, who couldn’t bear Vermont winters anymore. They invited Regina to visit. At that time, Regina only knew Miami from Miami Vice—palm-lined streets, pastel suits, Don Johnson. That was enough to make her curious. She jumped at the chance, booking a direct flight from Munich to Miami in October 1996. Ironically, she had never had a direct flight to San Francisco,  always through Frankfurt, but Miami had one from Munich. That alone felt like a sign.

She still remembers stepping out of baggage claim at Miami International Airport. The warm night air wrapped around her like a lover’s embrace. Dianne and Charlie picked her up with the girls and drove across I-395. It was already dark, but she could see enough, water shimmering with harbor lights, palm trees swaying, and in that moment Regina thought: This is it. Love at first sight.

Suddenly, Charlie made a sharp U-turn and drove onto a ferry. “Is Miami an island?” Regina asked in surprise. Charlie laughed. “No, but Fisher Island is.” She had heard of it before—Boris Becker, the famous German tennis star, had a home there.

The next morning, she woke and thought: This must be paradise. Dianne and Charlie showed her Miami, Fisher Island, Coconut Grove, South Beach, Lincoln Road, and the bold, colorful art of Romero Britto, who was just beginning to rise in fame. Regina was enchanted.

Miami was just starting to transform from a retiree haven into an international hotspot—making headlines after the shocking murder of Gianni Versace. Regina thought: Of course Versace saw the beauty here before many others. Who else would already have bought a mansion on Ocean Drive in 1992?

From then on, Miami became her second home. She returned two or three times every year, escaping German winters. She loved the warm climate, the Latin American influence, the mix of cultures. And, of course, she adored the Mediterranean look of the men—sun-warmed skin, long black hair, charming smiles. To her, Miami was Italy transplanted to America.

Over the years, she built strong friendships in Miami, and her friends constantly encouraged her to stay and work as a realtor. She could remain for at least six months without a visa issue and see if selling real estate could be a path to earn money. Regina heard that suggestion many times, but she knew deep down it wasn’t her profession. Square footage, contracts, laws, and paragraphs, she could never identify with that world. And, as you already know, dear reader, if you’ve followed all the other episodes, Regina was never money-driven.

Her heart was always with clothing and culinary products. She loved the restaurant and hotel scene. She didn’t want to compromise and invest time in building a career as a realtor just to reach Miami. Her heart longed for something else, something that brought her joy every single day. And besides, she never felt comfortable trying to “convince” people. Regina would rather tell a customer not to buy a property, because, as we all know, possession can easily turn into being possessive.

Looking back, Regina often thought: If I had chosen the easier au pair job in Pacific Heights, maybe I never would have discovered Miami. Sometimes the harder choice, the one that demands sacrifice, is the choice that changes your life forever.

Fast forward: Munich, 2004.

Finally, Regina answered Elena on the phone and after a long, long, long pause, softly but firmly.

Regina: “You are so right, Elena. I am not money-driven at all, and I always know what I want.”

Elena felt relieved.

Elena: “Yes, Regina, I know that. And because of that, I trust you’ll make the right decision.”

Why was she hesitating now? At thirty-four, she wasn’t the fearless twenty-one-year-old anymore. Was age the reason for her indecision?

Two more days of back-and-forth, countless phone calls with friends, and Regina finally made her decision. She would accept the Tommy Hilfiger offer and stay in Munich.

When a Friend Holds Up the Mirror

She wanted to celebrate with her friend Claudia, whom she hadn’t seen for a while; Claudia had just had a baby and was busy with her own life. They chose the beautiful Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, the city’s most legendary hotel, in the very heart of town, originally conceived by King Ludwig I, with breathtaking rooftop views that, on the clearest days, reach all the way to the Alps.

Claudia, two years younger at thirty-two, had come into Regina’s life through their mutual friend Dirk, whom Regina met in 1991 when she was nineteen, during a late-night taxi ride. Dirk had a second job with a taxi company to earn extra money, and Regina—together with her Greek friend Yiotta—climbed into his cab at four in the morning, leaving the famous P1 nightclub for Nachtcafé. By that hour, Dirk was ready to end his shift and decided to join them for a final nightcap. From that night on, Dirk and Regina remained friends. Later, Dirk and Claudia began an on-again, off-again relationship, uncannily similar to Regina and Paul. Regina had liked Claudia from the start for her straight, honest, and deeply felt way of expressing herself; she always hoped the two would make it as a couple. But events unfolded quickly. Claudia and her boss felt an unexpected attraction; she became pregnant; and that was the end of Claudia and Dirk’s future together. Regina managed to remain friends with both and was truly happy to see Claudia after some time apart.

Claudia hugged her. “What an honor to celebrate your job decision with me. I’m so happy to see you!”

“Yes, I’m so happy to see you, too,” Regina laughed. “And I’m soooooo relieved it’s over—the decision between taking the offer from Tommy Hilfiger and staying in Munich or taking the La Perla offer and moving to Hamburg. I’m relieved I can stay in Munich. Even though the money isn’t great, the position with Tommy is challenging, and they’ll see quickly what I’m capable of. They’ll promote me, and very soon I’ll be driving a Mercedes again! And I’ll see how things develop with Paul. It’s better to live together as a couple than to drift apart because of distance.”

Claudia, a little unsettled, tilted her head. “Regina, we haven’t seen each other for a long time and we’ve hardly spoken, but it sounds like everything will stay as it was, meaning, the same.”

Regina ordered two glasses of her favorite Prosecco to toast her decision to take the Tommy Hilfiger position; the signed contract was already in the mail on its way back to the company. The glasses arrived, bubbles dancing happily, waiting to be sipped. Claudia raised her glass and watched Regina stare into hers, dreamily tracing the stream of bubbles.

“What do you mean by everything will stay the same?” Regina asked.

Claudia set her glass down. “You’ll start at Tommy Hilfiger now. You’ll get less money, start from scratch with a company car you don’t like, something you’ve never wanted to drive, and you’ll stay at Paul’s place where you don’t feel at home. The relationship with Paul won’t change. You’ll still be the fifth wheel, except now you’ll have a job.”

Regina, disoriented by Claudia’s bluntness, tried to steady herself. “With a new job I’ll become independent from Paul. Then I can decide what to do about the relationship, whether I want to continue or not. First, I need to get back on my feet.”

Claudia listened closely. She knew Regina well enough to hear when her friend wasn’t following her heart. She pushed gently but firmly. “Okay. If you’re sure, let’s toast.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Regina said, lifting her glass a second time, ready for the toast.

“Congratulations,” Claudia smiled.

They both took a sip of their favorite Prosecco—the one that never gave them a hangover. Regina set her glass down again. Her thoughts spun, and somehow the bubbles didn’t taste the same. Is this how it tastes when the decision has been the right one? she wondered.

Suddenly she blurted out, “Or should I go to Hamburg instead?”

Claudia rolled her eyes. “Regina, you’re driving me crazy. For more than two days you’ve been back and forth. What do you want?”

“I know what I don’t want,” Regina said quietly. “Things should not stay the same as they are now.”

“It’s not about what you don’t want,” Claudia replied, almost firing the words. “It’s about what you do want. Do you want to move to Hamburg and risk the relationship with Paul? Then you have to go to Hamburg.”

“You’re right,” Regina said, as if a window had opened and fresh air swept in. “I have to go to Hamburg—back to my roots, where I was born. And Hamburg stands for the door to the world because of the harbor. Miami has a harbor, too. Maybe it’s meant to be. I’ll feel homesick for Munich, but it’s the right step. Suddenly I feel so clearly, this is exactly how the right decision feels. The harbor stands for new opportunities, and I will find them there. Ah, Claudia, I’m so happy now, you brought clarity to my chaos of feelings. I’ve just made the one truly correct decision after a long time. I feel it deep inside. Even though I already accepted Tommy Hilfiger, I’ll call them tomorrow and decline. I can only hope they’ll understand.”

Claudia looked a little doubtful but, in the end, she knew she had helped guide her friend back onto her path. She could feel that Regina had made her decision; it was in her voice, in her words, and in her body language. It was the right way for Regina to move forward—especially to a new city. It wasn’t Miami yet, but perhaps faster than anyone thought, Hamburg—though farther north—might, in its own way, bring her closer to that dream of moving to Miami. Claudia had the sense that Regina’s life would not end in Hamburg. They raised their glasses a third time and toasted to Hamburg and La Perla. All good things come in threes.

Regina looked fulfilled, happy, and ready for her new challenge, even with a flutter of fear. But as the saying goes: where the fear is greatest, that is the path you must take. That same day, Regina called Henry at La Perla and accepted his offer. Henry couldn’t believe his luck and was thrilled. Within the week, she signed the contract at La Perla, and Tommy Hilfiger understood that she would not start and released her from the signed contract. She would begin her new role in Hamburg on November 1, 2004.

Meanwhile, Mr. Blohm

He stood at a crossroads of his own. He had begun to enjoy this new rhythm: the warmth of family, the comfort of being cared for in the five-star routine of his sister’s home, and—if he was honest—the easy allure of being counted among Hamburg’s most eligible bachelors. A decision loomed: accept his friend’s offer of a prime location condo, or continue living in the protective cocoon of his sister’s home.