It´s "that" time of year again, when I know that we will be moving/flying to another location in a few months (summer sometimes) and I start to feel nostalgic and extra-attached about "things" I will miss. I went through this in Alabama (even though we were only there for 11 months!) and I went through this in Louisiana. About this time too; March before the "big move" in the summer. It was around this time in 2008 when we were waiting to hear what base/ country/ continent we would be heading too. In all the places that we have lived, I have missed the people the most. We are lucky that we (I) speak to my family in Australia very regularly (I try to call my parents at least once a week, and I sometimes call my mum every other day- hi mum!). We also get to catch up with our respective families often. In Alabama, I missed my work colleagues, especially Kelly and Taylor from the Beasley Allen law firm. I also miss Alabama BBQ. (Let´s just say that Zev´s favorite BBQ joint was called "Fat Boy´s BBQ Ranch). In Louisiana, I missed (and still do) all my wonderful girlfriends, especially everyone who was a part of Leslie´s Bible Study group (hi Leslie!) and our church group. I also miss my old work colleagues and really miss my job at the Public Defender´s Office, which was probably my favorite job to date. I miss Mexican food too. Zev misses shooting and hunting on base and so do I. Especially after my first deer on base! It was small but it counts! You may have noticed that I haven´t said that I miss our military friends! The funny thing is that I do miss them and some of our dearest friends are our "military friends" but we are all constantly moving around. And running into each other at different places. Being in the military as an active duty member or a family member is like a kind of signing up to a nomadic lifestyle and once you are used to moving around every 2 or 3 years, you start to get "itchy" feet and know that you are due to move. Hence the joke amongst military wives that we all plant flowers in flower boxes. And don´t "spring clean" the Spring before a big move. Because it´s all going to go anyway. But (as usual) I digress. Today I went to uni for a special "Geburtstags Kolloquium" which was a series of lectures on the area of criminal law, presented by various Phd students and lecturers in honor of a lecturer who turned 60 today. This lecturer, Prof. Dr. Wulf, had invited my entire LLM class to come along. Since Criminal Law is my "speciality" (as a profession not a pasttime ;-) I decided to go along. I was the only LLM student there. What that means is, that I was the only "Fremdsprachige" or "foreign speaker" there. Can I just say, that going to university here as an "international" student has really given me a new respect for people who speak English as a second language. Although I can communicate just fine in German, my gut seems to seize up and my face turns bright red and I sometimes stutter (yes, this is hard to admit but I stutter when I am nervous), when I am the only person speaking German, who was not born and raised in Germany. It really is hard, especially during the "mixers" where you meet new people and have to explain where you are from etc. Thankfully, I had a really good time. Prof. Wulf even stated in his introduction that "today we are represented by every continent, including Australia and the United States." He asked me before-hand if I would be ok representing both continents, and of course I said yes, but I secretely think he wanted to be able to say that "all continents" were there today! Ha. He is very sweet. Anyway, I met some really interesting people, including some criminal law judges who were as fascinated with my experience practicing law in America as I was with their work. I felt so happy leaving this presentation, that I went ahead and bought a fresh wreath from a local flower store, in celebration of this beautiful weather. Which brings me to the point of what inspired me to write this post:
Isn´t this wreath just precious? There are a lot of such wreaths being sold at florists all around town. I am going to miss fresh wreaths. I know we have them in the States and in Australia, but in Germany, it seems that they are a lot more common, especially around Easter and Christmas time. People seem to like giving fresh wreaths as gifts too. I love the yellow bird on the top of this wreath. If you are still reading this random post, I just want to say: I miss you too.
Happy Saturday!
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