What a difference a year makes

ONE YEAR AGO:

TODAY:



Exactly one year ago, the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2009, Will and I embarked on our farewell voyage, flying out of O'Hare airport in Chicago directly to Munich, Germany. In the month before that, Rachael had left California to spend a few weeks in Michigan with friends and family, Will had single-handedly moved the duo out of their house and driven cross-country with his poodle side kicks. And then in the blink of an eye, there were nights out, goodbyes, a holiday feast, one last night with Matt and Lindsey Grissom, and then *poof.* We were gone.

We arrived to an empty apartment that we'd signed a three-year lease on, in spite of only having seen digital pictures of it, and Will started work about 36 hours after landing. And yet, looking back, those were simple times.

Today, I don't have the luxury of sitting on the floor and staring out the window with a cup a tea in hand. Sure, now I have a couch to sit on, but if I look out the window with a cup of tea, I'm liable to have a baby scoot over and knock over my tea, or at least find her tearing pages out of a book whose pages I'd hoped to look at one day, in their original bound state.

This time of year makes me a little homesick. We miss you all so very much! I got so sappy I even mourned missing my 10 year high school reunion, in spite of the fact that the one person I keep in touch with and the three others who might recall my existence probably didn't exactly hold a vigil in my honor. (Best that the memory of me is left as it was, anyhow. I was a somewhat dark, nose-pierced, class skipping rebel, if you can believe it. Today I'm blogging in a bathrobe, trying to simultaneously convince a baby not to learn how to eject herself out of a highchair.)

There are good times to be had here in Germany, for sure, though they don't include Thanksgiving (a little ethnocentric of them, if you ask me...). And we are certainly having them! Nevertheless, our family and friends are closer to our thoughts than usual right now, and we hope to see you all in the flesh soon. Happy holidays to you all!