First of all, my apologies for a 6-week hiatus on blogging. We've crammed a lot into that time and I've barely been able to form a cohesive thought (much less put one on paper). This is my account of the last 6 weeks and be forewarned, it's wordy.
Our May 30th wedding on Sanibel Island, FL, seems now like something that took place years ago. It was a perfect affair with many friends and family there to celebrate with us, and that many more celebrating in spirit. I can't say enough about how perfect it all was. The eerily calm moments when my mom was helping me get the dress on were some that I'll always cherish. Most certainly, I'll never, ever forget the expression on my dad's face when he saw me in my wedding gown for the first time. I'll also never forget standing at the beginning of the aisle (sandy path through the dunes) a mere 60 seconds before walking down to meet Scott and suddenly realizing that I had no idea where our rings were. Ooops! Thank goodness for my quick-witted dad and close friend/bridesmaid, Jenny, who burned a trail back to the cottage and found them just in time! The best, of course, was slipping that ring on my best friend's hand. He was just as handsome and cute as the first day we met and we couldn't have asked for a better day.
Fast forward a few weeks to June 15th, and we've managed to liquidate a 1000 sq ft of furniture and other belongings in the first city I called "home" since I left my true "home" in Tennessee. This was a particularly hard goodbye for me. Leaving behind our home, our beach, our friends, and perhaps most difficult, our little brother Dorian & his family. Dorian and I have been "matched" through Big Brothers Big Sisters since August of 2004 and we've spent several hours a week together ever since. Scott joined our match back in 2008 so that we technically became a "big couple" to Dorian. In reality, we're all just family and it's really hard to say goodbye (in this case "see you later") to family. Thank goodness for Skype and Facebook!
On June 15th, we managed to get everything we owned into a rented dodge minivan and my Hyundai and we headed north to Tennessee. It was an emotional drive out of town for me but the adventure ahead made it somewhat easier.
A day and a half later we arrived home in Tennessee. It's always good to come home to the country. It was our dog, Kaya's (henceforth known as 'the lamb') first experience outside of a city and she had a ball running across the yard unleashed. We couldn't keep her out of the pool, either, which came as quite a suprise. Time with family was sweet but, as always, too short. We spent time supporting my dad in his campaign for Humphreys County Executive, shopped with my mom, and drank a LOT of sweet tea. It doesn't get much better than that!
On June 30th, we said tearful goodbyes and made our way to the Nashville Airport with all the essentials for our European life crammed into four pieces of luggage. It was liberating, overwhelming, exciting, and scary as hell...all at the same time. Lucky for us, we've got friends in high places (literally). The mother of my best friend, Amy, is a flight attendant for Delta and we were greeted onboard with champagne and the goodie bags from first class (a big deal when faced with a 9 hour flight). Husband, wife, and lamb landed safely in Munich, Germany, at 8:20 am local time and the adventure officially began. I'll close this (winded) blog at this point just by saying that Germany is beautiful. It's everything I expected and so much more. Details to come soon on falling in love with one of the most beautiful places in the world. In the immortal words of the Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it's been."
No comments:
Post a Comment