My Happiness in Life

A long, long time ago...1991 to be exact, I had the opportunity to go visit my sister while she was living in Brussels. I worked really hard babysitting all summer long for my other sister and by the end of summer I made enough to buy my own ticket. I was 15 years-old, a Freshman in high school, and I had the opportunity to make such a great trip. I got permission to leave school for a month. I left in the beginning of October and arrived back home on the 30th, the day before a bad blizzard that would have kept me in Chicago had I flown a day later.

Some days ago this article was brought to my attention: Five Things You Need To Know About Uruguay . While the writer assures the reader that he "loves" Uruguay, he's still pretty snarky in his comments about this great country. I took the time to write down some facts whereas he took the time to make some assumptions.

There are so many things you don't consider leaving behind when you move to another country. I can tell you of two things we really miss. One, our chiropractor, Dr. David Miller in Madison, Nebraska. Dr. Miller is THE BEST chiropractor around. Both Shawn and I miss the magic of his Iron Thumbs. I didn't get a picture of Dr. Miller before we left, but I got one of his assistant Becky and the reception area. I took this picture with my phone because I was "trying" to get a shot of that black board on the back wall. It says: Welcome (to the new patients) and I was the first one on the list!

Every Sunday when the weather was nice, Shawn would take Zoe out for a walk in the garden and he would take pictures of all my mom and I had growing. He took Zoe for one last walk, without my knowing about it, a few days before we left. I was so happy she had that nice time out in the garden when everything was so disruptive and hectic with the move. I'm sure they had a happy time. I miss the garden seeing these pictures.

Sadly, you can only leave if you first say good-bye. We planned a big going away party at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Mezcal, in Norfolk, Nebraska. We know the owner, Rene, and he told us the best time for the party would be on a Sunday around 5pm, so we set the date for April 25th, a couple weeks before we were to fly to Uruguay.

It was a wonderful evening and we are so grateful for everyone that showed up to wish us well. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here are a few shots of dear family and friends.

For us, getting ready to move was a months long process. I'm sorry I didn't get more pictures along the way, but it was just all so tiring. Every last thing we owned had to be sorted through: do we take it on the plane, if yes, do we take it now, in August, or whenever someone happens to come visit? If we don't take it on the plane do we want to pack it up to store in the rental unit, do we want to trash it, or do we want to try to sell it? I tell ya, my brain was about ready to call it quits near the end. I just wanted to throw EVERYTHING away.

I know I haven't blogged in ages. There's been a reason. We've kept something under our caps for awhile now, but here's the "official" announcement.

In a previous post I mentioned this little spot as being the prettiest piece of paradise I had ever seen.

There were two or maybe three snowfalls that were really pretty last year in Battle Creek. This was one of them. It was more like the snow I remember from my winter in Arkansas. The snow was wetter and heavier. It stuck perfectly to every single little twig on the trees. It was very, very pretty.

Kind of like what one would idealize as a winter wonderland on Christmas morning.

My niece Elizabeth gave me a cute little Venus Flytrap as a gift last year. I thought at one point I'd killed the poor thing. I didn't realize it wasn't getting enough water and all the catchers turned black and shriveled up! My mom, who has a knack of raising plants from the dead, assured me there was no point in trying to save it. I watered it anyway and left it on the window shelf.

I don't really understand dogs. Every day when I would feed them, they both insisted on eating on the rug instead of the linoleum. Penny in particular would freak out if I tried to make her eat on the linoleum. So to her, being crammed underneath a chair, as long as there were protective fibers beneath her feet, was far superior to the open space of the rest of the kitchen floor.