My trip to Berlin...

Most of you know that my lovely daughter, Viola (her Polish name) visited us over the Christmas holiday. It was so much fun to be together again and she and I spent some great time just chatting and catching up. She has a new boyfriend whom I adore. We learned alot about his family and how my daughter is adjusting to dorm life at school in Idaho.


All too soon her visit came to an end. Today she flew out of Berlin, to Dusseldorf and then on to Chicago. I will miss her so much, and just walking by her room will make me a bit tearful the first few days. However, I am blessed to know that she is making good choices in her life and she has done very well in school. (She had only one B and the rest were A's!!! YAY!)

We decided to take Viola to Germany because the trip to Berlin in the van she usually takes would have left her at the airport for much too long. Instead we rented a nice hotel room and had one last fun night as a family before her departure and even the dog, Ollie, came along! We had a huge European supper in our room. (Deli meat, yummy cheeses, fruit,fresh bread...MMMM!) We watched a show called "Chuck" online and several cake decorating shows (Can't remember the name, but the bakery is in Baltimore). We stayed up late and laughed and had a great time. I fell asleep as we watched the "Chuck" episode, all of us cuddled on the BIG KING SIZE bed, even Ollie. None of us slept very well because she had to be at the airport so early and we were all nervous she would miss it if we overslept.


So, at 7 a.m. I kissed her goodbye. She and her Daddy left for the airport. :( As I write she is somewhere in the air and headed for the USA. I can only pray that she is safe and that God is watching over her. This is something we knew when we committed to Poland would be part of our lives, but it is never easy.

Both of us, feeling a little depressed, decided we needed a pick me up after the drop off. SO we headed to STARBUCKS!!! Yay! There are not any Starbucks in Poland near us yet and so when we go to Germany I am ALWAYS ready to go. We got to the cashier and my hubby said "I want to buy you one of these!", a bright red mug that says Starbucks and Berlin on it! I was so happy. We have traveled to so many countries and I often thought of buying one of these mugs, but had not for fear I would have cupboards FULL of Starbucks mugs. But today it seemed right. I ordered a caramel SAUCE latte, he ordered a vanilla latte and my sweetie and I sipped a great cup of coffee at my all time favorite coffee shop, besides ours. LOVED it!!!!


My diet, the one I started before Christmas, was kind of blown by this cup of coffee. (And by the cheese the night before, and several treats I made while she was here, hahaha!) Tomorrow I wake up to the harsh reality that my baby is indeed gone and that I cannot eat my way through this emotionally trying time. I am hoping my resolve is strengthened before morning arrives. I still have my beautiful Polish daughters who will stand by me, but a part of my heart will be in Idaho with my baby girl.

So there it is...
the good
the bad
the ugly
it's all there, and was a long day.
Goodnight!