One Week
Six more days and one wakeup until we leave Stuttgart behind. We are hanging in there. This time is always tough--the struggle between the bittersweet feeling of ending another chapter in our adventure and the excitement of conjecturing what the next chapter will bring. Emotionally, we are done and merely coasting until next Saturday. I am spending my days trying to keep to our regular routine: snacks, naps, baths, quiet time, play time, stories, etc. So far, the kids have given very little indication that they realize the enormity of what is about to transpire. I suppose this is because they are still relatively young. Josiah did say to me yesterday "Why do we have to move? Can't we stay in Germany forever?". That's the first time he's acted anything less than excited to be leaving.
Today they pulled out my pots and pans and spent a happy 20 minutes banging on them with spoons, concocting "soup" using various small toys and devising tennis-type games with two frying pans and a ball. I was suddenly reminded of one rainy, cold afternoon stuck in the Navy Lodge in Newport. It was just before we left there to come to Stuttgart and my two little ones were bored senseless--so they played for an hour with the pots and pans from the lodge's kitchenette. I have a picture of it somewhere. Annika wasn't even two and Josiah was three. It seems like yesterday and an eternity ago, all at once.
I don't know what I'm trying to get off my shoulders here. I just know that one week from today the life that we had here will slowly begin to fade until it all seems like a dream. I wonder what will remain fixed in my memory. I disliked Japan intensely and yet, after coming back to the States after that year, I experienced reverse culture-shock. Not only that, but I found myself desperately missing Japan. Our time in Germany has been amazing, but I know that the same thing will happen again when we get to Virginia, only ten-fold because I loved Germany so much more. I fully expect to be a little depressed and morose for awhile, missing Europe.
I know, not a very cheerful post (not that I'm normally overly cheery!), but it does feel good just to sit down and write aimlessly about what's on my mind. Even it makes absolutely no sense to anyone else!
Things I'm looking forward to in VA:
1. One hour time difference with the people who matter most! No more waiting until mid-afternoon to call family at 7:30 a.m. Minnesota time!
2. Closer proximity to said family! Yay--seeing you guys won't require a 12 hour plane trip. If I want to, I can get in the car and drive. Very, very slowly...must remember there's a speed limit, ugh, but I could drive if I had to.
3. Not having to speak Gernglish. Yeah, I just made that word up. I won't have to hurt my brain trying to speak broken German to Germans who just answer back in English anyway. Yay, English! No more fearing to go places because of a language barrier.
4. No more GLoD...I guess now I'll get the ALoD, but it's a lot easier to deal with...not nearly as frightening.
5. Target. Duh. I have over $500 in an envelope just waiting for my first Target visit. Oh yes, Target--you and I are owed a long and passionate conjugal visit.
6. iPhone. Yes, Hans has convinced me to get an iPhone. Some of those apps look very useful!
7. Audi service. That's right, Audi in Germany SUCKS. They treat us like second-class citizens...like "How dare those obviously middle-class Americans think they can drive two Audis?". Like we're polluting the pedigree. Hans will disagree with me--he thinks they were fine. I think they were extremely stuck up. There was a lot of GLoDing going on from the sales staff.
8. Having a house, a real live house all to ourselves with a garage and a big backyard and neighbors that are a legally dictated distance from our house. If you'd lived in an apartment for almost three years, you'd feel the same way. Trust me. I am too old to be living in an apartment, unless it's one of those cool loft-style apartments in a renovated building somewhere in downtown Minneapolis. That might be OK.
9. America. I'm an American dangit and I just want to be where I belong. I'm thrilled to be coming back home. I'm excited to be living on the east coast again...just a little farther south. I'm looking forward to traveling in the area, seeing Washington D.C. and Colonial Williamsburg, etc. Oh, and add to the excitement the fact that we are going to be on the same coast with about 134 of our friends and acquaintances--not only on the same coast, but within driving distance...!
Well, there are about 712 things that I'm going to miss about Germany too and these are just a very few of the things I'm looking forward to back in the States! As I mentioned on Facebook the other day, as long as I stay on post, I don't get overly anxious about leaving...but the moment I'm out driving and see some of the sweet little villages and the beautiful fields, I start needing my paper bag...!
Today they pulled out my pots and pans and spent a happy 20 minutes banging on them with spoons, concocting "soup" using various small toys and devising tennis-type games with two frying pans and a ball. I was suddenly reminded of one rainy, cold afternoon stuck in the Navy Lodge in Newport. It was just before we left there to come to Stuttgart and my two little ones were bored senseless--so they played for an hour with the pots and pans from the lodge's kitchenette. I have a picture of it somewhere. Annika wasn't even two and Josiah was three. It seems like yesterday and an eternity ago, all at once.
I don't know what I'm trying to get off my shoulders here. I just know that one week from today the life that we had here will slowly begin to fade until it all seems like a dream. I wonder what will remain fixed in my memory. I disliked Japan intensely and yet, after coming back to the States after that year, I experienced reverse culture-shock. Not only that, but I found myself desperately missing Japan. Our time in Germany has been amazing, but I know that the same thing will happen again when we get to Virginia, only ten-fold because I loved Germany so much more. I fully expect to be a little depressed and morose for awhile, missing Europe.
I know, not a very cheerful post (not that I'm normally overly cheery!), but it does feel good just to sit down and write aimlessly about what's on my mind. Even it makes absolutely no sense to anyone else!
Things I'm looking forward to in VA:
1. One hour time difference with the people who matter most! No more waiting until mid-afternoon to call family at 7:30 a.m. Minnesota time!
2. Closer proximity to said family! Yay--seeing you guys won't require a 12 hour plane trip. If I want to, I can get in the car and drive. Very, very slowly...must remember there's a speed limit, ugh, but I could drive if I had to.
3. Not having to speak Gernglish. Yeah, I just made that word up. I won't have to hurt my brain trying to speak broken German to Germans who just answer back in English anyway. Yay, English! No more fearing to go places because of a language barrier.
4. No more GLoD...I guess now I'll get the ALoD, but it's a lot easier to deal with...not nearly as frightening.
5. Target. Duh. I have over $500 in an envelope just waiting for my first Target visit. Oh yes, Target--you and I are owed a long and passionate conjugal visit.
6. iPhone. Yes, Hans has convinced me to get an iPhone. Some of those apps look very useful!
7. Audi service. That's right, Audi in Germany SUCKS. They treat us like second-class citizens...like "How dare those obviously middle-class Americans think they can drive two Audis?". Like we're polluting the pedigree. Hans will disagree with me--he thinks they were fine. I think they were extremely stuck up. There was a lot of GLoDing going on from the sales staff.
8. Having a house, a real live house all to ourselves with a garage and a big backyard and neighbors that are a legally dictated distance from our house. If you'd lived in an apartment for almost three years, you'd feel the same way. Trust me. I am too old to be living in an apartment, unless it's one of those cool loft-style apartments in a renovated building somewhere in downtown Minneapolis. That might be OK.
9. America. I'm an American dangit and I just want to be where I belong. I'm thrilled to be coming back home. I'm excited to be living on the east coast again...just a little farther south. I'm looking forward to traveling in the area, seeing Washington D.C. and Colonial Williamsburg, etc. Oh, and add to the excitement the fact that we are going to be on the same coast with about 134 of our friends and acquaintances--not only on the same coast, but within driving distance...!
Well, there are about 712 things that I'm going to miss about Germany too and these are just a very few of the things I'm looking forward to back in the States! As I mentioned on Facebook the other day, as long as I stay on post, I don't get overly anxious about leaving...but the moment I'm out driving and see some of the sweet little villages and the beautiful fields, I start needing my paper bag...!
