Last Day, But Still A Week To Go

They packed up all of our stuff today. It is odd to see all of one's stuff in boxes. You look at these nondescript boxes and simultaneously think, "That's it?" and "How do I have so much?" Also, seeing it all packed up makes one feel that it is over. But we don't fly out for five more days. It is like meeting an acquaintance at the super market, saying hello, saying goodbye, and then realizing you're walking down the same isle, but you already said goodbye. So that awkward walk down the grocery store isle is our next five days in Germany.

Packing up all of our things every few years has made me self-conscious about the amount of things I acquire. We acquire many, many things. Even when we try not to. Paper. When one moves, it becomes clear that the digital era has a long way yet to go. Holy smokes, the quantity of useless paper. And just when you think you've purged it all, the school sends home suitcases full of it with your kids of all the super important projects they've worked on all year. So I pluck out a few random items, shove them in a "scrapbook" my kids will have to organize when they are grown and their own kids have moved out, and then throw the rest away.

Living on the American compound has been a mixed bag. I haven't had anything like a German experience, forced as I was to live exclusively with Americans. While it was nice to not have to learn German, on account of learning German is hard, it was pretty embarrassing when I had to confess to Germans that I had lived here for 2 years and could still barely order at McDonalds, where they use all same product names.

I will miss our church community terribly. I cried like a baby on Sunday saying goodbye to our great friends at church. In addition to believing the doctrine, I love being a member of my church because we always have a community wherever we go around the world.

Among those to whom we said a sad goodbye is the angel Elaine Woodford. Henry loves her so.