When the Bubble Bursts

I had just commented on what a little bubble we live in here where everyone is healthy, wealthy and, well, maybe not-so-wise, and now the real world has intruded on us. One of my friends who is getting ready to move back to the states with very little notice, just got word that a friend of hers who has been battling cancer is losing and will probably not live the week. Someone who works for an airline has given my friend some buddy points to fly back home. She'll leave Monday morning and come back Wednesday. So the rest of us will make sure her kids get to and from school and fed during those days.

We Americans are envious of the European ex-pats. If you're a Brit or a Dane living in Germany, you can always make it back for the weddings, graduations and anniversaries. And when something serious happens, you can always get home to be there for friends and family. North Americans can get back if we have to, but it really takes some doing.

We are a closet-less home now. We have clothes hanging from the staircases because all three of our closets have been sold and picked up. I've got to push selling the dryer--it's the one thing I haven't sold that I really need to. There are still quite a few folks around here who don't use a clothes dryer and with energy costs continuing to rise, they're not likely to start using one now.

We are eating strawberries at our house because Skip and Maddie went to a pick-your-own field near our house and picked 3 kilos (about 7 pounds) yesterday. Skip says Maddie worked hard and her pants showed the evidence of it. This afternoon we are gathering with friends to have kind of a good-bye party. Hopefully it will not rain, and I will plan to take some pictures--which I have been neglecting to do lately.

Maddie is getting very sad about leaving. She's sad about leaving Germany, but the thing that brings on the big tears is the idea of leaving her school. She says she will never love a school as much as she loves ISD, and she may be right about that. Though some we know have had their problems with it, the school and her teachers seem to have been custom ordered for Maddie Lentz.