On 2011

Looking back, many of our past few years are full of a lot of little events or accomplishments.  This year seems like it consisted entirely of two things:  our move to Munich and the pregnancy and birth of Paul and Elise.

In deciding to move, I don't think we fully appreciated just how difficult it would be to be so far from our friends and to make new friends here.  I was compiling a list of my favorite music of 2011, a longstanding tradition of ours that has declined over the last two years (just ask if you want the list), and I noticed that my list included mostly slow, sad songs.  Thinking about this, it occurred to me that we were probably in mourning for a good part of the year for the close friends that we were suddenly out of touch with.  Sure, we still e-mail or Skype occasionally, but where once we were in the middle of everything with our friends, now we were feeling much more remote.  Laying in bed trying to fall asleep after a 4 AM feeding last night I was likening this to an AM radio, where previously we were right by the station receiving it loud and clear, now we're at the edge of reception, making out a few words here and there and on a clear night maybe catching a few uninterrupted minutes.

As far as making new friends, unfortunately the language barrier is a bigger deal in that respect than we thought it would be.  Obvious why for me, but for Nicole a lot of her friendly banter in English is witty and sarcastic, which her German skills - while fine for getting around and having light-hearted conversation - don't allow.  There also don't seem to be many mid-30's people at the Intel office for some reason, perhaps they were whittled out in the cuts a few years ago, so I haven't found new friends through work either.

But make no mistake, this move to Germany was a large goal of ours for the past few years and we're really happy and proud that we made it happen and are living it.  No matter how it turns out, whether we return to the States soon or decide to live here long term, we know that we wouldn't want to look back in 20 years and say "I wonder what life would be like if we had lived abroad for a few years like we always talked about".

Of course we also complicated the move and adjustment by being pregnant and to our shocked surprise with more than one.  That moment in the doctor's office - me holding Lily while the doctor does the ultrasound and says "oh, there's another one" and Nicole completely losing it - is one I will never forget.  That, and watching both of our new babies emerge into the world.  Babies who are already changing and growing and doing new things, which 2012 is bound to be full of.

This post sounds like a downer, but we had plenty of good moments as well.  I got to see lots of new places for work... Milan, Paris, London and Stockholm stand out the most.  Lily's first German words and now phrases.  Visits from Portland friends and family.  A nice vacation in Slovenia and Austria.  Sunny Sundays at the outdoor swim park.  Lily's first snowman.

So 2012 is here, and I think we'll all be ok if the lows aren't quite as low and the highs aren't quite as high.  Even if they are, we survived 2011 so we're ready for whatever is in store.