Things I Miss

Things I Miss
I laid awake last nite and thought about the things I miss now that I’ve been home a week. I’m sure my words were much better as I put them together in bed….but I thought I’d try to put them in the blog this a.m…..so here goes.
I miss the church bells waking me in the morning, as in Marbach they have not one but two churches that ring every quarter hour. But they never ring at the same time, first one and then the other with a slightly different ring. I miss getting up in the morning and going across the street and buying fresh rolls for breakfast. When I got inside their were so many choices, I stood at the counter and pointed and said ein, ein, ein, ein, ein, ein, ein, ein (or one of each). Then when you brought them back to Karen’s we all sat down to breakfast at the dining room table and Kathleen and Gary made coffee with their French press coffee maker and Karen had real butter and jam on the table. Yum yum.
I miss Gary’s homemade soup for lunch along with some more fresh bread. Again all sitting down to eat together (even Reudi joins us for breakfast and lunch even though he has been in his office working since 6 or 7 a.m.) I also miss Reudi and Gary teaming up (which is dangerous) and playing off each other with dry humor. God Bless Gary.
I miss sitting in the kitchen and watching Karen lovingly bake a pie….and I watched her do this at least four times in the month we were there. She never uses anything in a can, and makes the best crust I’ve ever eaten….which is saying a lot….as I don’t like crust, usually I eat the pie and leave the crust. Then after putting it in the oven I miss the smell of the house as it baked…..it was so wonderful.
I miss watching their interactions of Jenny and Geoffrey with their parents and with us. They are really great kids….or young adults….as they are 18 and 20. Jenny is a beautiful young women and smart and has the best smile….Geoffrey is tall, good looking and has a quick whit like his fathers. When Kathleen and I told him he had to respect us as we were his aunts (as we adopted Loretta as our mom) he said “yah respect, but that means more presents for me!” His birthday is February 2….I better not forget.
I miss looking out the window and seeing Austria’s white capped mountains across the river valley. I miss the sunshine and flowers all in bloom. Here in Minnesota it has been cloudy almost everyday since I’ve been home, and the lilac’s and bleeding hearts are just now blooming….about a month late.
I miss playing games after dinner…..Kathleen and Gary brought dice and taught everyone how to play ten thousand, pig and liar’s dice and a game they left with the family called Blockus. Geoffrey challenged Gary in all of them, and had incredibly good luck at beating him on several occasions.
I miss shopping with Kathleen and Karen and bonding with Karen like another sister. It’s like I’ve know her all my life when in actuality I just met her for the first time in 2001 when Gene and I visited Switzerland on our tour of Europe and spent one day with Karen and her family.
I am happy to be home as I also missed my family while gone….I’ve never been gone so long before. Absence does make the heart grow fonder!
I also miss Gene, as today is the one year anniversary of his death. m