Prost - to the future!

So much has changed in the last few weeks and with Bailey and Camden gone and Mia still in school, I have had A LOT of time to reflect. It has been hard moving. Sometimes, I am just sad having to start over. We just left living in what has been my favorite city (so far) in the world. As I have tried to console Mia with the move and leaving her friends, I reminded her  (and had to remind myself too) that we never even knew "that Bamberg or those friends" existed, when we moved there 6 years ago. Looking forward now, we have no idea what friendships or experiences that we are in store for here, and that is pretty exciting! Hard - but exciting!  I was speaking to one of my very favorite people this week about colleges. She was saying that it is such a wonderful feeling knowing that there is a whole world waiting for her child with all new experiences and a full life ahead! I of course started to think about Bailey and her future in the same way, and shed a few tears. I read this article too, which made me think even more...


http://masedimburgo.com/2014/06/04/17-things-change-forever-live-abroad/


If we could have stayed in Bamberg forever, we would have. We even thought about trying to get jobs locally, but with Bailey and Camden's education (their German is good, but definitely not good enough for the university track), and also the Bryan would end up retiring about 10 years later (having started so late in the German system) than he would if he just stayed - which is definitely not worth it. Before I go on, I am reminded too of what my wise German friend (who has lived through unbelievable times) told me a few years ago: Your family is healthy, happy, and Bryan has a job - you are blessed and you need to stay positive and supportive and if you have to move, you have to move - Simple! 

 And so, we are here now. We have met a couple of people. Mia has her first invitation to a friends house today. We can finally find most things after the move (the only thing still missing is the bed skirt to our bed :-) and our entire future is ahead of us. I then reflected again on my friend and my conversation and then on the article and was reminded that we too still have our entire lives ahead of us. Our future is what we make it.

In trying to carry on the things we loved about Bamberg, we road bikes to school today. It is different riding bikes here, but there are some positives too - there are beautiful little paths through a park on the way to school. When Mia walked to school in Bamberg, she didn't see any "green" on the way. I also walked in and made an appointment to open up a new bank account (yes in Germany, you need a local branch - the banks aren't National, and yes, we have to wait 1 week for an appointment). What would have aggravated me 6 years ago (because I would have wanted to walk in and open the account right then and there and to not have to spend more than 20 minutes doing it - yes that instant gratification that we like), now I know and appreciate the differences about this culture (see # 9 and #11 on the list in the article).

After reflecting a bit the last few weeks, it is refreshing to know that we can keep all of the things and memories that we love about our past, but we also have plenty of new things heading our way and memories to be made - and that is pretty cool :-) Prost - to the future!!!!