Mikka Rocchia is the father of Thelma and while he, his wife and little one were in Berlin for their holiday, the Frenchman showed incredible commitment to his daughter’s happiness.
He told his story on Twitter and his tweets went viral almost immediately, reaching 8.5k retweets and 6.6k likes (and counting).
The tweets were in French, but we had our gorgeous resident French gal translate them for us, because they're so excellent:
“Attention, father’s kind of thead! Scroll the tweets for an INCREDIBLE story ! (or almost incredible)! I kind of felt like Liam Neeson in Taken. Let me explain.
Last night, we leave our hotel in Berlin to go to a cool restaurant, with my wife and my daughter Thelma. We have fun in the tram. This is tram M10 (relevant information for this story)" the father explained.
"We get off at Eberswalder Strasse (not a relevant information but I just wanted to show off with my German). We walk for 5 minutes towards the restaurant, meanwhile the M10 tram has all the time in the world to continue its journey through Berlin.
Au revoir Berlin.
— Mikka Rocchia (@MikkaRocchia) July 19, 2017
Et au revoir le tram M10.#Doudou pic.twitter.com/MiMGUANatU
But all of a sudden, we realise the TEDDY HAS DISAPPEARED. Not any teddy, it was like THE TEDDY," something we can all relate to (I actually still have my 'teddy').
"Thelma’s one and only TEDDY. Panic, Tension. Thelma starts crying: 'But Teddy is on his own?! My Teddy is gone?!' You cannot imagine what TEDDY means for Thelma. He is her baby, her brother, her father, her mother, her confidant. Then, flash of genius from my wife: 'Honey, jump in a cab and follow the tram!' (Sure…)
"Can you honestly picture me getting in a cab and screaming to the driver : 'Follow this tram for the Teddy!' ??? Of course, I did it," - we would have too, in fairness.
"The guy doesn’t understand what I am saying, I shout at him: 'Follow the f*cking M10 tram!' Obviously, there is no tram because this stupid tram left like 10 minutes ago, which is by the way the tram’s job. For once, I’m telling you, we wished there has been an delay on the line."
He continues to explain his amazing ordeal: "So the cab follows the line M10. He is driving as fast as he can. I swear, he did go through a red light. He tells me: 'This is the tram!' Yes, there was a tram. But a F*CKING BL*DY B*STARD M8 TRAM!! NOT A M10!!”
Honestly, I was sweating at this stage, wondering what would happen next.
"ON LAISSE PAS DOUDOU DANS UN COIN !" pic.twitter.com/b24Ae0Wiyd
— Mikka Rocchia (@MikkaRocchia) July 19, 2017
"The tires squeal, u-turn, the driver must be Michael Schumacher's brother seriously. He follows another line. He goes through a no entry street. We are struggling. He tells me it is over. I tell him to keep going. He tells me that he doesn’t know the tram lines well. (of course they take his customers)"
Hope and hard work prevailed in the end though: "And there: THE TRAM M10 is in sight!!! About 200 metres away. He speeds up, overtake the tram, I throw 15 euros at him (the meter was saying 8 but for the adventure it was well worth 15). I cross the street (full of cars) and I can hear myself scream “It is for Teddy!”
"I make it to the platform, the tram beeps, the door is closing, I push the doors, I get in the tram, I locate the seat where Thelma was sitting. I move an old lady and there, what do I see on the seat enjoy the view of Berlin through the window? TEDDY."
"Yes, I did it. I found TEDDY. And one day, I will tell this story at my daughter’s wedding. YOU DON'T LEAVE TEDDY IN THE CORNER!”
Bravo sir, bravo.
