The countdown is officially on. We move in four days. FOUR DAYS. Did you hear me? F-O-U-R-D-A-Y-S! I woke up this morning, after having a dream about finding a home for us to live in, and was like holy sh*t, it’s moving week. (I am sorry that this is the Lord’s Holy Day and I say something like that, but I think the Lord can relate!)
But as the clock has started ticking and time has started dwindling I have found myself really contemplating all the things I am going to be leaving behind as we embark on this move. People have also started asking me what I am going to miss the most once we move.
I have been trying my best to be fully present in the moments I do have. It’s not always possible. But the move has given me this strange perspective of being able to really appreciate the things I have and do here and how they will change in the coming weeks.
10 Things I will Miss While in Germany
Let’s start by getting the sappy stuff out of the way.
The Number One thing I will miss when we move, is life. The best way I can describe it is that it it’s hitting me that life goes on.
Let me put it this way, on Friday, I received THREE pregnancy announcement texts. THREE! That does not include the SEVEN OTHER pregnancies that our happening in our friend/family circle.
I don’t know if you can do the math….but THAT’S TEN PREGNANT PEOPLE. TEN!!!!!!!!
(Hi. It’s Kelly. It is now 9:23 PM after publishing this today at 1:00ish PM. And I am editing it to tell you that there are actually ELEVEN pregnant ladies in my life. OMG!)
And we don’t get to be here for a single one. We don’t get to snuggle a single one of those babies our friends created. I don’t get to pinch their fat baby thighs. Or give them their (adorable) baby shower gifts that everyone is now getting from us.
Which is fine. Really it is, I’m living in GERMANY for Pete’s sake. But man, not being able to be here for our friends. I think that is what is going to suck the most.
I realize that our life will go on, too. We will find new friends, a new church, we’ll travel, and our friendships here will fade a bit. That is going to be a big struggle for me. I don’t know if you know this about me or not, but I suffer from a severe case of FOMO. My counselor pointed it out to me like… IDK the second time I went to her.
And I don’t like that life will keep going on without us.
The Number Two thing I am going to miss… curbside pickup. Y’all, the grocery stores aren’t even open on Sundays. Like…what?!? That’s when I do all my grocery shopping (you know, Sunday morning, before church, when I type in everything I need and pick it up five hours later….).
The Number Three thing I’ll miss is our Sunday Breakfasts at El Nop. Almost every Sunday we go to church. And almost every Sunday after church, we head over to El Nopalito where I get a “bean and cheese breakfast taco + water and please bring chips and salsa.” Cody gets his bacon, egg, and cheese taco.
Only sometimes we get fancy and I get the Huevos Rancheros (eggs over medium, potatoes, and beans with bacon) except, I add a side of avocado and Cody gets a egg and cheese taco and I give him my bacon cause we are cheap asses like that!
Well let’s just keep with the food/Mexican thing here for a minute. The Number Four thing I am going to miss is. Well. You know! MEXICAN FOOD. Can we please just have a moment of silence for the chips and salsa I will be leaving behind………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Okay, thanks.
But…for real. That is going to SUCK. We found one “Mexican” restaurant when we traveled to Regensburg last month. But. It’s basically an overpriced Chipotle THAT DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT QUESO IS!
Um, excuse me?
We have also been informed that there is no thing as velveeta there either. Which, that’s not real queso anyways. But I could have at least used it in a pinch when I am feeling really depressed over our move and need to drown my feelings in my three favorite things (margaritas, chips, and queso).
Back to the restaurant. It’s called “Guacamole,” which I am grateful that their quac was good. But it also cost us around…IDK $50 USD to eat a burrito, three tacos, two drinks, and chips and quac. So, there’s that.
Number Five. Dr. Pepper. Doesn’t exist over there. I couldn’t even find a fountain soda.
Before you go telling me “oh, that’s great!” or “you don’t need to drink soda, it’s bad for you” I will kindly ask you to SHUT UP CODY because I LIKE SODA!
I’m not bitter.
Let’s keep moving, Number Six. Driving. And, driving while listening to music. I had this weird emotional thing a couple weeks ago. I was driving home from IDK where, but driving on i35 coming from the direction of San Marcos. And there is this point on 35 when you top a hill and can see all of New Braunfels ahead of you. I had my music going loud and was singing. And it hit me.
I no longer just get to hop in a car and drive where I want. I don’t get to blast my moody music when I am feeling emotional or blair my booty poppin music when I am feeling particularly nostalgic and want to return to my college aged sorority girl self.
The Number Seven thing I am going to miss is our Supper Club. Our friends, Mollie and Canaan (but let’s be real, it was all Mollie) started a Supper Club when they moved INTO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
So let’s actually back up for a hot minute here.
I moved into this house about three years ago.
Jamie (my college bestie/roomie) and her husband moved in a few months later.
Then we got married and while we were honeymooning in Mexico, Cody’s middle school/high school/college bestie (Canaan) and his wife (Mollie, my now friend) MOVED INTO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD TOO!
THEN we met Canaan and Mollie’s neighbors who happened to have gone to A&M with the boys.
So we just have ourselves our own little neighborhood posse here. And I feel ‘hashtagblessed’. 😉
Seriously.
So back to Supper Club. Mollie and Canaan started our Supper Club with all the aforementioned peeps. But also some other NBTX locals that are in our friend group. And for the past year, every six to eight weeks, we congregate at someones house, eat lots of food, play games, chat, and drink (except, let’s be real, I’d be the only one drinking now because…look back to number one. Everyone is apparently getting pregnant).
It has been such a fun thing for us to be a part of. And golly, I am going to miss the heck out of that group. (Also refer back to “number one” where I explained my fear of FOMO for more understanding on this topic.)
A little back story. When I was in college, I wasn’t much into the “God thing.” I mean, I loved Him and for sure wanted Him to help me through that biology test and make my boyfriend love me, like “please Lord, I’ll follow you forever if you help me out here!”
You know what I’m talking about? But then said boyfriend broke up with me and I felt my whole world shatter a bit. Not because of the break up, but more because of the realization that I had been chasing things that weren’t really fulfilling me (i.e., booze, parties, boyfriend, you know..the college thing!)
Anyways, it rocked my world. Or, God rocked my world, would be a more accurate statement.
And from my second semester senior year till about three years ago I was on the hunt for the “perfect” church. I would go try places out and drag my sister with me so I didn’t have to be alone. I would sometimes just go by myself and sneak in late and leave as soon as the pastor was done praying.
Eventually Cody started going with me and we found ourselves a great little church that was meeting in San Marcos. And all was find and dandy till I moved to New Braunfels and the church moved to Kyle. Which…hello, I drive there every day of the working week, I don’t want to drive there again.
What I wanted more than anything was a church I felt comfortable in and a community of people I could relate to to be my friends.
Cue Number Eight and Number Nine.
Number Eight comes first because these girls came first. The summer after I moved in, I was desperate for a small group. One like my 242 group in high school. Girls about my same age in the same life stage. So I did what I never ever thought I would do. I randomly messaged a group of eight or so girls that lived in NB and were teachers. And asked them if they would want to come to my house once a week to do a Bible Study.
And every single one of them came.
Some left. And some new girls came on.
And y’all, these girls have been LIFE TO ME! First of all, they are all teachers (except Caitlin who deserves an extra jewel in Heaven simply because she sat through all of our teacher talk every.single.week. and not once got annoyed or told us to shut up and talk about something else).
These girls get me. They know me. They know me so well that one time I got called out for something I had been feeling deep in my heart but hadn’t really ever voiced (Theresa, you know what I am talking about) and wow. I don’t know. I have to stop writing about it because tears are welling up in my eyes and I can’t see the screen anymore.
But for real, these girls have been by me the past three years as I have navigated marriage, started my blog and podcast, left my job, and everything in between. They too are having babies(of course).
We have some hard stuff we’ve talked through together. I am forever grateful for you girls- Julie, Theresa (shout out to the OGs), Caitlin, Amanda, and Lindsay. Plus the other girls- Taylor, Jen, Allie, and Jamie who started out with us a few years back. Who said “yes” to trying something new.
Number eight brings me to Number Nine which is our church. Theresa invited our small group to her church and one by one we all started trying it out. It wasn’t a “love at first sight” kinda thing. But we visited RCNB few times and gave it a shot. We liked it, but again, not a love at first sight kinda thing. But the minute Cody and I walked into a different church to try it out, we knew we would officially become members of RCNB. It was our church home.
And it is still our church home. We will continue to love, support, and pray for RCNB until we return because it’s ours. And we are so thankful for a church that welcomes us, preaches Truth, and values it’s people.
Okay, eyes getting fuzzy again.
So how do I decide Number Ten? I’m not really sure.
I could talk about how much I am going to miss the New Braunfels Farmers Market (which, if you’ve never been, you need to go!).
I could write a whole blog post on how much I am going to miss Chick-Fil-A. But I won’t.
I could definitely write about how much I am going to miss happy hours with my friends. Especially my teaching people that like to drink beer + eat endless amounts of fries covered with sour cream, bbq sauce, and idk what else.
I could write about the feeling of “being known” and walking into a place and seeing people you know.
I could talk about how I actually do miss teaching and will grow to miss it even more as I am even more removed from it.
I could tell you about how much I am going to miss our cozy little home and all of our things (because, side note, if you haven’t heard, we get to move with 150 lbs of things. And that’s it. And if you were wondering how much 150 lbs is, it’s not a lot.)
I could tell you about how I am going to miss our family being so close. Within three hours I could be sitting and the dining room table of any member in our family that I wanted to.
Let’s not even get started on the fact that the holidays won’t be the same.
I could talk about the Hill Country and how driving to Enchanted Rock on Friday and seeing the beauty of our Hill Country got me feeling really grateful for our beautiful home of Texas.
So I think, the best thing I can come up with is this.
Number Ten circles back to Number One.
Life.
I am going to miss our life here.
And as excited as I am to open this next chapter and see what the Lord has in store for us; closing this door is going to be really hard too.
Life is so fragile. We have seen that up close and personal this summer.
And we are willingly walking away from our home, our people, our “life as we know it.” Fully aware that life will change, for us (and you) as we are gone.
It’s sometimes a really hard pill to swallow.
But I get it. And I’m ready for it.
I hope that as we embark on our journey you will join in praying for us.
I hope that you won’t forget about us.
I hope that you will find it within your budget and time to plan a trip to Germany.
I hope you will remember that even though we are 5,510 miles away from you, that you know we are praying for you and cheering you on.
And, for the love, I hope you remember to send us all the Baby Announcements.
Until next time,
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