Exactly two weeks after we landed in Deutchland our eldest daughter has joined us!
By arriving a fortnight later, she missed out on the crabbiness of four people going through jetlag at the same time.
She missed the countless trips (there were dozens of them) to the hardware store and the furniture store and the bakery. She didn't have to endure standing in the grocery aisles laboriously translating the names of products to see if we were in fact getting what we intended.
She missed the trips to the dealerships where we tried to not panic as we totaled the cost of purchasing two vehicles in Europe. She also missed climbing in and out of backseats on our quest to find the smallest fünf platz (five seat) car that will satisfy my need to fit into tight parking spaces and down narrow cobbled streets whilst considering the girls' relative comfort.
But she also missed out on our suite at The Intercontinental, and the restaurants we explored before moving into our new home. She missed the room service and daily gelatos and all the other treats we offered our younger two girls who were such troopers through the process.
She traded those missed opportunities for extra time with friends at home, including a vacation week with two of her besties in Michigan. She crashed at her grandparents, swam with her younger cousins, and said sweet sad good byes.
Those farewell weeks are hard. They were hard for me on the cusp of 40 ... It's unimaginable what it would be like at 16.
But our sweet sixteen year old
(who is, by her own admission, also a bit "salty") managed the experience and then got on a plane and flew alone across the Atlantic. Many times last night I peeked at my phone to see where our oldest was in her journey across the pond.
And just now I peeked up at her in her third floor tower, unpacking suitcases and loading drawers and listening to music ...
And I'm glad ::
for the weeks she's had
and the weeks we've had
And glad too ... that moving forward we will share our weeks together ... until the next time she stretches her wings with independence and grace.
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