Reflections on our 5th Year - Part 1

Five years ago yesterday, November 22, Jim met our flight and helped us drag all our luggage out to our temporary home, the Boulevard Hotel, where we began our adventure of living in Europe. Jim has since moved on and we don’t live in a hotel apartment anymore, but we once again trekked out to Scheveningen to go to the Italian restaurant where we dined that first night in Holland. As part of our tradition, we reflected on the highs and lows of our 5th year. We’re very thankful that our list of lows was again short:

• Missing the Langs (back to Aberdeen in May) and the Busches (repatriated to DC in September).
• Suffering through a month of ice from mid-December to mid-January.
• Jimmy’s travel schedule decreased, but his hours heavily increased with lots of late nights and weekends.
• We’re happy the insurance company picked up much of the tab and we found a great contractor, but it was very stressful having to coordinate a complete renovation from afar after our home in Cary was heavily damaged by flooding in January.
• Bummed that the Dutch football team choked in the World Cup Final.
• Difficult being so far away while my sister was suffering with an illness, but thrilled about her recovery.
• Stupid preventable moments: Being scammed at the Delhi train station. Melissa crashing her bike and injuring her ankle. Jimmy losing two iTouches.