When Angela Merkel asked me in 2009 whether I could imagine becoming Federal Minister for Family Affairs, I initially refused.
My husband and I had just sent out the invitations to our wedding three weeks before, and we agreed that we wanted to have children now, and if possible not just one.
How was that supposed to work with not only three places of residence, which we already had due to our Bundestag mandates, but also two government offices: My husband had just been appointed Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of the Interior, and now I should also be Federal Minister?