Germany -- One Week

It's hard to believe that we have been here for one week already. Time really is going quick, but at the same time, feels like it is moving so slow (thank you, hotel living). M started inprocessing today, which means that work will start soon, and we can start getting on a more normal schedule. The time change has messed with everyone, the kids taking it pretty hard and Max taking it the hardest. Being in a hotel makes adjusting especially difficult, since having any sort of schedule is rough. Lucas, especially, thrives on a schedule, so not having one has been a bit of a rough go for the poor kid. On top of that, both caught some wicked colds, so we are dealing with the pitifulness that comes with that, as well as everything else. But aside from it all, we are making the best of it and getting through the day. I have done more walking in the past week than I have done in some time, and I foresee Germany being very good for my waistline (my FitBit thanks me!) We have also drank more beer and wine in the past week (my husband more than myself!) than we have in quite a while. Counter-productive, I'm sure!

I have to tell you, first off, that Germany is a very beautiful country. It hasn't even been a full week yet and I am in love with the greenery, the quaint little villages and towns, the vineyards that line the hills and red roofs from homes that dot everything in between. The villages are small, and in most cases that we have seen, the Church Steeple is the tallest point in all of them. It's a simplicity that you don't see back in the states, and a much more casual way of living. Mixed in with the simplicity and history, you were reminded of modern times -- I am in LOVE with how Germany embraces alternate fuel sources -- wind mills & solar panel fields everywhere. It was amazing!

I have to admit that I am starting to get a little overwhelmed with all of it. Not with being here, necessarily -- we WANT to be here and wouldn't trade it for anything -- but the language barrier is a tad frustrating, and embarrassing. I have picked up a couple phrases and words here or there, and most people in our area speak English, but I hate to admit I hate asking them to so that I can understand. I will admit, there have been a couple dicey menu choices. I personally am on a mission to learn as much as I can. I feel that it will make my personal experience here that much better. We truly want the full experience in living here, which means learning the language as well. This is a large priority for me (and hopefully my husband) and I am grateful that we bought some "learning to speak German" discs before we left AND BROUGHT THEM in our suitcases! But all in all, people have been so kind to us. I think, overall. Germany has a reputation of not being very friendly. I have found that people don't smile at you when you are walking down the street, and they would rather barrel into you on the sidewalk if you don't get out of THEIR way instead of moving themselves. If you say hi, they won't say hi back when out in public. But one-on-one? Incredibly kind and helpful. At least what we have seen so far.

We are still figuring out the housing situation. Things are so up in the air, and from what we were told today, it looks like we will have no choice but to live on post. This is not our ideal situation -- again, we want the FULL experience in being here, which for us means living off-post -- but we are complete "make the best of any situation" type of people. I will drive off post every day with the kids if it means shopping on the economy, exploring, finding new parks and small cafe's to hang out in. I really cannot express how excited we are to take it all in. We want to leave here with zero regrets -- this means living as un-American as possible.

Over the weekend, we loaded up the family and headed to Trier, which is the city my Mom lives in. It was nice to get out of the hotel for a couple of days and enjoy a little more space, as well as see the area my mom has called home for the past year. Trier itself was beautiful. It was nice to see my mom's place while also getting to see another setting for a couple of days. Driving into the city, the hills are filled with vineyards for as far as you can see. The Mosell River winds through the city, which happens to be the oldest in Germany. The Dom, a Roman Catholic church that dates back to Roman times, is home to the Holy Tunic, a garment with a recorded history back to the 12th century, in Catholic tradition said to be the robe Jesus was wearing when he died. There is a huge Roman history within the city, including one of the most well-preserved Roman city gates (the Porta Nigra). Just a few blocks from my moms home, there are exposed ruins that were found during the excavation for a new building. It's an amazing city with some amazing history, and we barely scratched the surface during our time. I cannot wait to get back and visit again, and see all that we can before my mom moves to the Rammstein area at the end of the year.

Germany -- the First Few Days

Well ... we made it! We are officially in Germany.

We are just starting our third day here, and it seems a little surreal that all of this is happening. Our flight here was long. Approximately nine hours. But both boys did amazing. I mean truly better than I think either of us could have hoped. We had very little sleep, but I'll take good behavior over everything else.

We were greeted by three guys from the new unit, who helped us get out of the airport with all of our luggage and set us on the right path. We immediately went to start the inprocessing, followed by a quick stop at the (very small) commissary to grab a couple essentials, then to the hotel to check in. M was then whisked back to post to sign into his new unit, and we all came back and took extremely long naps. My mom greeted us at the hotel, and has been staying with us while we get our feet on the ground. The kids are loving grandma time, and we are loving having family here with us!

Things are a little overwhelming right now, but we are loving every minute of it. I need to seriously start learning some German, because while everybody here also speaks English, I feel like a jerk for not knowing more. We are without a vehicle, but the new unit has been MORE than helpful in picking us up, getting us to where we need to be, offering assistance, checking in and essentially, just being amazing. We really could not have asked for a more welcoming group of people, and with the demands that will be coming with M's new job, it's clear that the rest of us will be well taken care of -- family is important to this unit, a nice change from our previous assignment.

After a day of rest and trying to force ourselves onto a new scheduled, we headed into downtown Stuttgart our first full day here. Since we have no vehicle for the time being, the train is our only mode of transportation (aside from our feet!) so we braved the system, managed to NOT get lost, and headed into town. We spent a good part of the afternoon just walking around, exploring, finding some amazing places, getting sun, drinking beer (BEER GARDENS EVERYWHERE), eating amazing food and in general, soaking in our new environment. I have to give my mom & my husband credit, because they are not afraid to explore and are more than willing to take some chances. It's nice having them a long because I tend to be a little more reserved, but immersing ourselves fully into this culture is the only way we will get the most out of it, so from day one we decided that is what we are going to do. Lucas already knows his first German word and I have a feeling that kid will pick up the language quicker than the rest of us will!

All in all, while overwhelming and exhausting, this has been a great adventure so far. We are so excited to see and do new things, and are eager to get out and explore as much as possible. Having a vehicle here will make things that much easier, but it's the train system for us for now until we can do more outside the city. I cannot wait to share things with y'all. Also, please ignore the glaring (hopefully not a crack) dirt on my camera. Obviously I need to get my lens cleaned. Should be interesting finding a place.

Until then!

Tomorrow

Well, my friends. That's a wrap.

At least for our time here in the United States.

I don't know how this time came upon us so quickly. And this week, as a whole, was just such a massive whirlwind. It's 11:30 pm, and I should be sleeping (I am EXHAUSTED) but I just can't get there yet.

The bags are packed and ready to go. We jacked a cart from the hotel for the night so we could load everything up and have it ready to take down tomorrow morning. Our flight doesn't leave here until 2pm which means breakfast with our friends in the morning and then a few hours of anticipation for what's to come.

It's scary and exciting all at once.

I don't know when I will get a chance to blog again, but hopefully soon. I cannot wait to share our new adventure and oh man, the photography that I will be able to take!

I have SO MANY THINGS to write about, particularly about these last couple of weeks here, and so many things to say about so many people, but I just can't do it tonight.

Until then ... see you on the flip side! Germany or bust!

Boxing It All Up

Something happened.

Once again, time slipped away from me.

I am currently sitting on our sheet-less mattress set, surrounded by boxes. The last glass of wine in the house rests on a shroud of beige packing paper that encases my nightstand. The toddler sits next to me, watching Despicable Me 2 on the iPad for the 100th time, and the baby tosses & turns in the pack and play.

I don't know how we got here.

Not that I'm complaining. At all. I've written about our upcoming move to Germany before, and I truly cannot express how excited we are for what is to come. But somewhere along the line, a bit of fear was interjected into our lives. The reality set in that this won't be "some vacation" but instead this will be our new livelihoods. We knew this, of course, but the closer we got, the more we realized that we wouldn't just be guests in a new country (although we still are, if you want to look at it that way) but instead actual residents. I cannot wait to immerse ourselves in the culture, but at the same time, I'm a bit nostalgic in leaving our  home for the past seven years.

Marriage. Loss -- human and fur. Two babies. A first Christmas together. Many, many ups & downs. This house, while not the fanciest, or the biggest, or the nicest, holds so many memories of our relationship. It's weird to be leaving.

These past few weeks have been a giant whirlwind. As always, I had so many intentions to write, but the time just never presented itself. I'm only writing now because both babies are occupied and husband is off running errands. It's starting to set in how insane our lives are about to become,and while I couldn't be more excited, I also couldn't be more terrified. The packers came today, and 90% of our stuff is in boxes, aside from one bedroom that is a giant cluster of stuff that we will be taking with us. Tomorrow it all goes on the truck. The rest of the week is packed with storage pickups, preschool drop offs, rental cars, hotel stays, new carpet and new paint, goodbye's and just a general rush of trying to get it all done. In one week -- ONE WEEK -- we hop on a plane and head to our new destination.

Insane. Purely.

Starting tomorrow, we will be in a hotel. I'm leaving most of the household stuff to the husband while I deal with the kiddos. So maybe I will have more time to share what these last few months have been like. But all I can say is wow. I really have no idea how the time went by so quick.

North Carolina: Saying Goodbye

In less than a month, we will be in Germany. EEK! Life is definitely chaotic these days, but amidst the crazy, I can't help but think about, and get a little emotional about leaving North Carolina. Which, if you know me, you know how crazy this sounds.

But hear me out.

Eight years ago last month, I hopped in my little black Jetta, and in three days drove from Seattle to Fayetteville, North Carolina, to be with the guy I had only known (and was already engaged to) for about seven months. I quickly entered a world that I knew nothing about. Growing up in the Seattle-metro area, military life wasn't something that was a familiar aspect to me, or really anybody else I knew. Then there was the ginormous culture shock that came with moving to the South. Having lived in Washington and Colorado, moving to North Carolina was a massive, massive change. Holy cow, the humidity. And why on earth do people call shopping carts buggy's? The accents. The slow paced way of life. Did I mention the humidity? I instantly hated it.

Essentially, I have spent close to a quarter of my life here. That's a good chunk of time! But despite all of it, North Carolina has been an influential part of my life, and dare I say it grew on me (just a little). I moved here for a boy that I KNEW, the moment I met him, that I was going to marry. People thought we were crazy. CRAZY. I'm sure they still do! We moved in together after nine months of long distance relationship, we were engaged after only four months of knowing each other. I can count on one hand the number of times we spent in each others presence before we decided that YES, we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Moving here, as hard as it was to give up my life in the Pacific Northwest, my dream of moving back to Colorado, and to leave friends and family behind, has been the best decision I have ever made in my life. Moving here changed me. It changed my whole world! My now-husband deployed very shortly after I made the move out here, and despite my families wishes to head back to Seattle, I graciously declined & decided that this was my life now, so I might as well get used to it. And wow, you guys. What an eight years it has been.

 
Over time, I got used to the way of life around here. The mountains are some of the most beautiful, and the coast line has the whitest sand. Fayetteville has never been our most favorite place in the world, but being in North Carolina gave us the opportunity to see & do so many wonderful things. New York City. Charleston. Williamsburg. Asheville. Savannah. Charlottesville. Countless trips Florida. Visits to D.C. More tours on buses & carriages than we can count, where we experienced some of this countries finest history. Whether our vacations were healing a broken heart from a lost pregnancy, celebrating the return of a fifteen month deployment or gearing up for another one, or simply taking a weekend to get away, we saw some pretty amazing places. All because of our time here.  

Shortly before our second deployment, I started what was probably my tenth attempt at a blog over the years. I called it my My Life as an Army Wife and for the the first time, I found a purpose in writing. I shared my experiences as I navigated through the end of our first deployment, the transition of coming home & adjusting to life, our second deployment, a miscarriage and life as a very, very liberal military spouse in a very, very conservative community. Through the online community, I met some amazing like-minded military spouses, some of who have become some the best, most amazing friends I could have ever asked for. Through them I learned what it meant to be a MilSpouse, and found that I was not completely alone as I adjusted to this new community. It also introduced me to so many amazing opportunities -- interviews with BBC about presidential candidates, online debates with the Communications Director of a very well known military school in NY & their then-recent suicide rates of students, and a community that accepted me for who I was & what I believed, despite not always necessarily getting that support in real life (at the time). My online presence was a huge blessing, gracing me with the knowledge & guidance from others like me to navigate my time married to the military, and knowing that I always had other fabulous women I could lean on, whether they were here or not.

While I was meeting people online (hahaha, that always sounds so weird), I was also meeting amazing people in real life. Through my husbands unit, my jobs, and through random social interactions on my end, I have met some truly wonderful people. People that, over the years, have become our own family. Friends who understood this crazy life because they were going through it as well. They never told me, during any of our deployments, "I don't know how you do it because I never could" because more often than not, they were doing it themselves. We saw marriages & divorces. We battled infertility together, cried together when treatments didn't work out the way they were supposed to, & celebrated when babies were finally welcomed into the world. We supported each other through tough times, in marriage & in life, and we never judged. We hugged & supported through family deaths, and when family was too far away to celebrate the holidays we celebrated together with too much food & often too much wine. And lastly, we cried together when we lost friends who were gone too soon, a too often harsh reality to our little bubble of military life.

Eight years we have been here. I moved here for a man I BARELY knew. We started our lives here and have built a truly wonderful one at that. Our first home. The birth of our two boys. A rocky, rocky road at times, but a road that has made us & our marriage stronger -- and in return of all of this, some of the most amazing people we have ever had the pleasure of meeting. We are leaving here better than we were when we moved here & for that, I am grateful.

The ironic thing is that so many people in our lives have already gone their own way. But the best part about being in the military community is that it's never truly goodbye. Nobody knows how to keep up long distance friendships like those in the military, and while friends in my life have come and gone over the years, it's my military family that has stayed true. We have made lasting memories here -- good & bad, but mostly amazing. We could not be MORE excited about our new adventure, but we leave behind a truly wonderful experience despite all the ups & downs that have come along the way.

So to those of you who are reading this, whether we have met in person or not (and you know who you are), thank you. Thank you for eight wonderful years. Thank you for the support & love, and most importantly, the friendship. I know, speaking for myself, that I never could have made it these last eight years without all of you. Our family is who it is because of you. I have enjoyed watching ALL of us grow & change in the best possible ways. It's been an honor, and we cannot wait to see you all again. We leave here with a little bit of southern twang on our tongues & a lot of love in our hearts. 

And please. Come to Germany. Our doors are ALWAYS open. xoxo