Pre-Adventure Back Story

It's taken a week for me to feel like I've had time/energy/motivation to start blogging about our Germany adventure. Before I start on a day-to-day description, I thought I should share some of the background to this trip.

Back in 2008, we had been planning  to take the entire family to Germany during the summer of 2009. We'd been saving up frequent flyer miles, talking about possible itineraries, etc. when Gary was offered the chance to do a Summer Term Study Abroad in Italy & Greece. Of course, he jumped at the chance, so our Germany trip was postponed. (Italy and Greece were a wonderful experience. You can look back to the beginning of my blog if you've never read about it.)

In October 2009 Aubrey received his call to serve in the Germany, Berlin mission, leaving January 6, 2010. We toyed briefly with the idea of picking him up, but decided that the timing wasn't great (Christmas, school, weather, etc.). Instead, we planned to take everyone to Germany the summer following Aubrey's return. It was a long term plan that was off in the future in so many ways.

And then our world turned upside down.


                   May 1, 2010


But life has a way of going on. And we must too. I felt it was important to take this trip that had been in the planning for so long. I set aside money from the life insurance, knowing that Gary would want me to go on this adventure with our kids. I let Aubrey know that once he got home, we would be returning just a few short months later. I made sure Carson & Maren knew that this was still going to happen, just like Dad had planned.


It had been so far off in the future, that when it came time to buy plane tickets, I was kind of taken by surprise. Of course, nothing ever can go quite like I planned--we weren't able to use frequent flyer miles like I had hoped and the tickets had gone up so much in price since I looked at them a year before. Needless to say, this trip was going to cost much more than I had originally budgeted. But I was determined that Gary would want us to go, regardless of such "trivialities." Tickets were purchased--we were going!


As the time for our departure grew closer, I began to have lots of apprehension. I'd never undertaken such an trip without Gary. He was the one with the "spirit of adventure," not me. I'd never even driven the California freeways until a few years ago, and I'd never driven in a large city (Gary always drove once we reached our destinations, including England on the other side of the road). I didn't speak the language (but at least Aubrey did, that was a comfort). I was the sole parent, completely out of my element. Could I really do this? Well, if I didn't, I would have been out a LOT of money for the plane tickets, and that was motivation enough. Besides, I wanted to prove to myself I could do it.


So I took a GIANT big girl pill, and off we went. My facebook status the day we left was "channeling my inner Gary."


I know Gary is proud of me. I'm proud of me too. I did something big and scary and not only survived, but enjoyed it! This trip will mean a lot to our family for the rest of our lives. I hope it's not our last big travel adventure together, but if it is, I will know that I did indeed, channel my inner Gary and enjoy the spirit of adventure.