A new blog

Since DKGermany is no more....we thought it appropriate (after some nudging from friends and family) to continue our musings. Click on the link below to go to...

Poop, Sleep, Repeat

the blank title

"What would you say, ......."
D. Matthews

The first thing i guess is that punctuation is difficult on a German keyboard. No, it is not the same, there are more letters in the German alphabet than the English one.

I just got back from my last karaoke night at the bar that has become my Cheers. not sure if i've become Cliff or Norm but i guess time will tell. Before I moved into the hotel, I wrote down a lot of things that i wanted to say to wrap all of this up but i do not have my musings with me so i guess the opus to all that this place has meant to me will have to come off of the cuff. When you throw everything you own onto a boat, sometimes you forget the crap that you (once upon a time) wanted to remember.

I thought about quoting Dave Matthews for what I wanted to get across, or maybe Bob Dylan, but everything seemed to fall a little bit short of profound. Not that "profound" was my goal, but I guess I have always felt the need to wrap this all up with something that meant something to someone.

With this blog, we tried our best to share our lives with those that cared for us. That was our only goal. When we moved here, we never thought that we would fade into the background. That we would become an afterthought of those we loved. Kelli and I wanted to make sure that people were aware of the fact we were willing to take risks. That we were willing to do something that people NEVER thought that she, nor I would ever do. Not shock the world, per se, but step outside OUR box and show the world that we were willing to challenge anything put in front of us, as a loving, married couple.

I created this forum to try and keep us connected to everything that mattered. It has become that and so much more according to the people that have said they appreciated it. If you look back at post number one, our goal was to stay in touch. All that mattered to us at the time were those that we knew before we came here. We were people that appreciated the relationships that we had built throughout the years. That was all that mattered to us.

And to this day, that is all that matters to us....... however.......

Our lives and who we are have changed. We have met some people that have changed our opinions, changed our views, altered our focus, and made us people that look at things with a much wider lens. Kelli and I are not people that are not that easly swayed (in my opinion) but when you are presented with alternative viewpoints, lifestyles and ways of being that you eventually judge (through experience) superior to your own, you must learn that your American egos and methods could use some modifications. Isn't that the definition of being human?

We have some new friends. The majority are not like us. We have learned to listen. We have learned to be humble. We have learned to appreciate sweet silence, and the beauty of a sunny summer Sunday with no reason to head to Somerset or Lakeside. I pray to God that I can carry on this new found quality of time appreciation that we have to our child that we do not quite know yet. To our friends (you know who you are, you Germans, you Swedes, you Italians), we thank you.

"So here we are tonight, you and me together, the storm outside, the fire is bright, and in your eyes, I see what's on my mind."
D. Matthews

And so I get to my wife. This little flame that keeps me warm. This little flame that keeps me on my toes and will ALWAYS burn me if I stand still too long. We move along on this mission. Where it takes us, only God knows. We are closer than ever before. You stretched yourself during this adventure. YOU stepped outside of YOUR box more than anyone and made more strides as a person. You have become a better person, a better daughter, a better sister and most importantly (in my opinion) prepared yourself to be the best mother on the planet.

We now have a new mission that we have accepted and celebrated. Our lives are soon to become secondary to everything that we have built, wasn't that the point?

And with that, I leave you all. A better man in my estimation.

until we meet again Germany.....

Zu den Krankenhaus!

One of our movers just split his arm open when he broke a lighting fixture and glass shards fell onto him. Nothing like a little blood and gore on the final day in our home!

The moving company showed up with an ARMADA of dude this morning. I explained in broken German that there are enough guys for a "baseball team". They told me that they had enough for a "football team". You can take the man out of the US but....

Starting to look really strange in here. I'd say about 80% of our things are on the truck already.

General Tso's Thriller

Chinese prison inmates doing Michael Jackson's thriller.

wow

Verpackung

Our house in in shreds right now as five guys are here packing all that we have. It should take 6 weeks for everything to get to Detroit. The sadness is setting in. We move into a hotel tomorrow so tonight is our last night in the house. Lots of dinners and meet-ups in the next 6 days.

The weather got cold on us. Only about 65F today.

The last hurrah

We are back in Germany now from our trip to the D. Over 4 days, Kelli and I looked at about 50 houses (!!!) and came up with two that are pretty darn perfect. We are in the process now of making offers and negotiating so nothing is set yet.

We were able to make it into the city center last night for the winefest that started on Friday. Only 9 more days to enjoy what has really and truly become a place we call home. There is a ton of buttoning up to do with the movers and our jobs so these will be some very busy times. Our lives have been moving quickly from excitement to sadness to exhaustion but we are both taking great care of each other as we turn the page (cue Seger).

D

Worst Price Is Right Contestant EVER

Is that in pesos Jose?


The Price Is Not Even Close - Watch more free videos

Good bye Germany

Our adventure is ending.

We're moving back to Detroit later this month. This will not be my opus to all that we have done and learned (that will come later) but we are beginning to get the feelings of separation from what has become our home. Some tears have started to flow in and around Wiesbaden.

Kelli and I are knee deep in everything that's involved with moving everything we own to another country. As you can imagine, it's quite a task. Not surprisingly, moving to the US has a lot more challenges than moving to Germany. There are WAY more regulations about what we can and can not bring back with us. My hopes of bringing cases of wine, beer and the mustard that my sister Renee loves so much have been dashed by the new US food import regulations. Even with all of the help given to us by our relocation people, we have been going non stop for three weeks. We are heading to the D tomorrow on our look see trip with the primary purpose of finding a new home sandwiched in between my family reunion in Alpena and a friend's wedding.

Five days to find a home.

Doesn't sound like much so this should be interesting. We've done all of our homework and looked at hundreds of places on the internet so a week from this Friday, we should have a new pad and the home that our baby will grow up in. Cool stuff.

Last weekend was our 5th wedding anniversary and I surprised Kelli by taking her to the Praia del Rey Resort in Obidos, Portugal. (about an hour drive north of Lisbon) We had five days of nothing to do but sit in the sun and relax. We took one three hour trip to the village of Obidos (unbelievable!) but mostly stayed close to the water. We have had so many cultural and sightseeing trips in the last 30 months that it was a great respite to do NOTHING for once. Portugal is beautiful.

Main street in Obidos

Looking out over the Portuguese countryside

Looking down over Obidos

Portuguese fruit stand

St. Mary's church in the center of Obidos

The medievel castle in Obidos

Along the old city wall - not for the faint - hearted

Looking up at the castle

The best belly photo EVER

Our hotel from the tenth tee

After our anniversary dinner

Kelli outside of our room

The view from our room

Portuguese sunset

The beach looking north

And South

Brian and Aurea

Congratulations guys!

Our friends Brian and Aurea got married in Hawaii over the weeekend. Wish we could have been there!

Kelli and I were in Portugal over the weekend relaxing by the pool for our 5th wedding anniversary. I will have pics as well as an update of all of the goings on this week.