If you are born in Bavaria, grow up there, live and work, then you are confronted early and persistently with superlatives: best federal state, best high school diploma, best and largest folk festivals, best beer, best best, most and best cows and so on. Another trend fits here well: people these days are no longer boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands or wives, lovers or girlfriends, no, they are the “love of my life”.
In order to outline the most important moments and people, one’s entire existence must serve as a point of comparison – even if it hasn’t ended yet. When a new groom whispers shortly after the champagne reception that this is the best day of his life, a few questions arise: of his life so far? Or your entire life? Until divorce?
Brides have it even harder in this regard. Even before their wedding day, it is drummed into them that it is the most beautiful day of their lives. So will. will have been. Then. Afterwards stop.
What actually happened to the life companions? Admittedly it doesn’t sound that sexy, but it takes the pressure off.
In order not to completely annoy you, dear readers, we called the SZ podcast on the state elections “Söder’s Endgame”. We could have called him “The Most Important Choice of His Life,” but that would have had a very short half-life. Söder once said that two terms as Prime Minister are enough. As is well known, nothing came of this resolution. A life like that is usually quite long, especially in Bavaria with the best health care in life. And there is still Berlin, where Söder’s most important election of his life could take place beyond the Weißwurst equator.
But there are also exceptions where you can place bets for your whole life without batting an eyelid. A forester recently came across something in the Bavarian Forest on a giant mushroom, a 13 kilogram fir tree. “This is the mushroom of my life, I’ll definitely never find one like it!” he commented on his find. That’s not exaggerating. Just cleaning the mushroom, which looks either like a sponge or a brain, is estimated to take at least half a lifetime.