Two years ago yesterday -- September 2, 2006 -- I landed in Germany with Shauna (and a bladder infection, haha!).
Funny how I ran across our flight itineraries just now while reorganizing some old papers. Tucson to Köln. How can you feel so old looking back at yourself from only two measly years ago? I remember dragging those huge bags to the Tucson Airport in the dark of the early morning; Mom taking pictures; the three of us giddy with nerves and excitement and exhaustion and the attempt to avoid looking too closely at impending separation. Sitting jetlagged in the window of the hostel in Köln, staring at the Rhein river and the unknown future.
It was a pretty self-conscious reverie, too. "Gosh, in a couple years I'll look back at this and think of all that's happened since then!" Well, you called it, self.
Bert and I just got back from an absolutely amazing ten days in Greece. (I'll have to blog about the trip in another post!) But landing in the Frankfurt Airport this time was a weird experience, in that it was so... absolutely un-foreign. Not quite like coming home -- that's more of a landing-in-Seattle feeling -- but definitely similar. We were walking from the baggage claim out to the trains and I was struck by Frankfurt's sheer normalness compared with the hot, wild, ancient, Mediterranean culture we had just left, with its fascinatingly unfamiliar alphabet and undiscovered corners; and I was surprised by a sudden itch to pick up and move to Athens, to go do it all again and start from square one and figure out how people live their lives there as well as here.
And then I looked at my tall bearded Saxon. And I heard the announcer in the train thank us for "träweling vis ze Deutsche Bahn;" and I realized that Athens can wait, I'm exactly where I want to be.
9 comments:
I remember someone's major meltdown about a week before she left and, though my own heart was breaking at the thought of her leaving, reminding her of all the reasons why she was going and that this was the absolute right thing to do at this time in her life.
Change is not always easy but you know it's the right choice when the status quo just isn't an option anymore.
Think of all you would have missed if you had not taken that leap.
I'm VERY proud of you and the life you have made for yourself.
aaahhh...peace
I'm so glad you're feeling it. And had to laugh, because I often have that exact same impulse to pick up and go -- not because I don't love where I am (well, not necessarily GB, but the circumstances of my life), but because that's just what my brain does. :-)
aaahhh...peace
I'm so glad you're feeling it. And had to laugh, because I often have that exact same impulse to pick up and go -- not because I don't love where I am (well, not necessarily GB, but the circumstances of my life), but because that's just what my brain does. :-)
darn my impatience -- I double commented again!! sorry!!
You know, a while ago, I commented (maybe to myself and a few others... this may have been before I knew you, or at least before we talked much) that every couple of years, I seem to have a St Augustine's Confessions feeling: please forgive me for my past foolishness, for I know so much better and am so much more virtuous now (for my own definition of virtuous).
I think it was a comment I left on your mom's blog where I said that I'm happy you guys have found a place that calls to you and where you feel like you belong; that's a great feeling. But, it is kind of a shame it's not the same place I feel at home - when I was in Europe I felt very out of place, and the curiosity with the novelty of it didn't really make up for that it was so, well, foreign, so different where I felt comfortable. But that doesn't change that I'm happy you've found a place that clearly makes you so happy :)
"Home is where.... (you finish the sentence)."
With everything that appears to be so wrong with world right now, it's so refreshing to hear from someone who is finding it a delighful place to both visit and come home to.
=o)
Love you!
Home means being where life is normal, and where you can drop my bags and stop "giving a damn". :-) Where you want to be after being everywhere else.
"Home is where your favorite bed is, and where you like waking up in the morning." For me that means both Seattle (little 'h') and Gypsum/Vail, CO (big 'H').
I'm SO glad you found that Germany is "home". It's where you like to be, and that's awesome. Hopefully Shauna, Steve and I will soon join ya over there. :-)
Aw! You guys are great. :) And yes, COME JOIN ME, there's lots of Germany to explore!
Though I have to amend that I didn't quite mean to say that Germany is home. It is certainly comfortable and "normal", and I definitely want to be here. But I think it would take the presence of some family raise an instance of happy-to-be-here to the status of home. :)
Btw, Sarah: haha! Yes, I think Wanderlust must just be wired into our Air Force genes somewhere. :)
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