Texas - Happy New Year 2023 🥰

 Happy New Year to all of you. How grateful I am that you are part of my life and stick with me even through all the crazy stuff I manage to get into.

This past year 2022 was insane for us. It started out with tremendous pressure when we decided to sell our beloved ‘Happy Bear 🐻 Mountain’ retreat and sanctuary. It brought us 15 years of joy, love but also heartbreak. As with every good book, chapters end and new ones start and it was time for us to start a new one.

I admit to my German history the lifestyle I lived since I moved to the USA in 1993 seems often foreign and strange. I lived in 4 different states, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas and Colorado. I moved homes 7 times since being here. My husband, being an American beats those numbers by probably doubling or tripling them. It is so common to move here but so uncommon for Germans. I was always walking to a different drum beat so in a way the move we did in 2022 by selling our home and taking to the road in a Motorhome and trailer for the car is not as weird as it seems. Coming from our airline background both my husband and I have a real love for driving and road trips. We knew there is a lot of this country, as well as Canada, we still want to explore. We are not getting younger and health is a concern so we felt it was the right time to do this.

My goals for 2023 are as follow:

Letting go of anything that is outside my control which is pretty much everything. I want to be surrounded by people I love and admire and who actually like being in my company. I don’t want superficial relationships as I am frankly to old for that. 

I am loving the fact that our new lifestyle is letting me be more active as in taking walks and hikes. Even on days I don’t feel up to it our two babes, Keetna and Oliver, require me to walk them 4 times a day at a minimum. We also got us ebikes which are fun when they work. Mine has a flat tire right now so when we get to Arizona I hope to find a repair shop.

I did loose weight in the last month or two, actually 20 lbs so far and I love it. The best part is that I had to spend no money or join a program. I still eat everything I love, from sweets to bread etc. The only thing I changed was eat less, cut my portions and vola the weight kept dropping off. I hope I can keep that momentum going into 2023.

Tomorrow morning I am planning to join the guided hike that the state park we are in is holding for the New Years Day. 3 miles through 3 or 4 different nature zones, ending at the butterfly garden.

My next project for the new year is to finish up one of my three books I am working on. This will need a lot of focus but I am positive I can get it done with some help of course.

So my wish is that everyone I care about will live their best life’s yet. I want them to know how much they matter and how important they are. Focus on yourself and make yourself and well-being a priority, please! After all I am selfish and need you all to stick around for a long time. This past year had way to many funerals for us. 

Tomorrow I will work on another blog entry about our crazy adventure on the Mexican border.

Germany/Deutschland…. Long Overdue

 On December 11, Ron and I started our trip to Germany bright and early and Niki sadly had to get up at O dark 30 to pick us up for the airport.

The trip over was rough for our aging bodies as we got coach seats and yes I know this makes us sound very spoiled. However, to our defense we both chose our careers in the Airline industry for a few reasons. One big one was the flight benefits and the chance of flying business or first class when available. Trust me I wish everyone could experience this as I feel we all deserve to travel in some comfort. Well, as I said on this trip over I got a middle seat in coach and Ron got a seat in Premium Economy which was a tad better.

On the bright side i did have two interesting seat neighbors. The one to my left closed his eyes and slept all 9 hours, except two short bathroom breaks. The one on my right was a young early 20’s influencer who travels the world. She was heading to Germany, Hungary and England for 1 month. She was bubbly and spoke 5 languages and kept me entertained. 

We had not been on a flight since 2016! Which is shocking for us and I was unprepared that in order to watch the movies on the plane none of my Bluetooth headsets were working of course because I did not have the adapter. So I listened to music a lot.

Once in Germany we got our rental car, a VW Golf Diesel. Spunky with lots of room. I got it up to 180 kmh but that was its limit.

Once we reached Weinheim, my birthplace I was shocked to find my favorite bakery closed. It has been a constant since I was born. Infighting in the family is supposedly the issue and I was very saddened by this. My favorite butcher shop however was still going strong so I did get all my beloved meats and sausages.

Seeing and spending time with my mom was our biggest highlight, but we did not stay with her this time around as we didn’t want to add stress and she has quiet some medical needs at this time. So my second youngest sister and her husband offered us to stay at their house and we got the whole upstairs for us, including our own shower and bathroom. 

This trip, and truly all my trips over are not sightseeing or touristy trips. I come from a very very large family and when one has just one week available each day is booked for family members. I needed this time to spend and absorb all I could from those I love so fiercely. Still I did get to go on a couple of hikes with my oldest sister, and we saw one Christmas Market plus had many many many incredible dinners while there. My family rocks in spoiling us with food. 

Ron unfortunately got sick shortly after we arrived so he was very low key and spend most time at my moms house resting and sleeping. I felt good until the day we left. I went downhill on our flight home. My heart was racing, I was running a fever, my joints were hurting and my throat was raw. It was pure misery that lasted until now and I am in day 6 as we returned on Dec 19 and today is Christmas.

I was suppose to pick up Keetna and Oliver on the 20th from their doggy hotel but had to email them and ask for a one day extension since I could barely move.

All in all it was a beautiful, yet stressful trip and I am so happy I got this time with my loved ones. We hit the jackpot when we got business class seats for the way home. Heaven. I tried to even sleep for an hour and did watch 3 movies. I loved seeing one of the gate agents in Frankfurt who started around the same time I did, in 1996. She still keeps going and I loved reconnecting with her.