2010: round two

We were sitting in a room full of people, but all I could see was him. Sort of like that ‘Fancy-Focus’ setting you can do on Photoshop that blurs everything except the one thing you want to focus on. He was laughing at something one of his friends had said, and I knew, right at that very moment, that my heart would never belong to anyone else but him. It was an aching realization, one that made my stomach churn and my heart sink to the very bottom of my sand-covered shoes. Because I knew after that bittersweet four hour drive to the airport, I would probably never see him again. And because it was a terribly inconvenient realization, seeing as he was leaving the country in a few months and I was perfectly content in my little bubble of a life as of that freezing December morning.

But if there is one thing I possess, it’s passion. And if you know me in the least, you are aware that once my mind is made up and I have my sights set on something, I will stop at nothing. So I shakily pulled out my cell phone, typed an 11 word message that read: “You know I would move to Germany in 2 seconds flat”, tried to stop my heart that I was just certain the entire room could hear pounding, and pressed Send. 

 

The rest is, well, history. Sometime in mid-April I will pack everything I own into some suitcases and board a flight to Germany. I honestly cannot spend one more day without him by my side. Zack is in the Army, and will be in Germany for 3 years, so for drei years I will be traveling Europe with my very best friend and the boy I have madly loved for an embarrassing number of years. I am so incredibly excited about seeing so many new things, building a beautiful little German home, and perhaps even meeting another Liebscher. But I think what I am most excited about is simply waking up every morning and seeing him. That is all I have ever wanted since that first kiss on the dusty hill at the edge of the woods.

Zack is stationed in Baumholder, but we will be living in a slightly bigger town about 20 minutes north of Baumholder called Idar Oberstein. Neither of them are big enough to warrant a spot on most broad maps of Germany, but Idar Oberstein is located in West Germany. It’s in between Frankfurt & Stuttgart [where my great grandpa was born!], but west of those cities. [And only about 4 hours driving distance from Paris!] 

I know it all might sound slightly crazy, quitting my job, leaving my dearly loved family & friends and the comforts of America, and moving to a foreign country [the extent of my German is ‘guten tag’ and ‘bitte’] with a boy I haven’t actually been in a relationship with in almost 3 years. But isn’t that what life is about? Stepping outside of your comfort zone, chasing dreams, believing in fairy tales? If it isn’t, don’t inform me now.