Home again

Seems like only yesterday that we trekked up the stairs to our business class seats at Hamilton Airport, heading off on an adventure of epic proportions, a month long odyssey in the isle of England and the wilds of Paris and the motherland of Holland. Seems like only yesterday the decisions of what to take with me in my limited space backpack were the biggest things i had to think of. And now, i sit here on my bed with a lovely cool breeze blowing through my window and i am almost at a standstill cause my mind doesn't know what to do. I likened it to a heart yesterday - sometimes the nerves in the heart can get too stimulated and they eventually don't know what to do and so they forget to send the proper signals to the heart muscles and consequently, the heart simply sits there and quivers... not sure what to do - a life-threatening situation. Well, i'm not in any sort of life's danger, but it does feel like i'm at a standstill... quivering and not sure in which direction i'm supposed to be heading. I know i have clean-up to do, i have committee work to do, i should develop my pictures (an intimidating thing in itself since we took so many - i'll betcha all told up it'll be close to a 1000!!!), and i should remember how to live my life. But what am i supposed to do first and how to do it? I've tried to think about a few things on this trip... it was very busy but i still managed to squeeze some thinking time in there.. must be a daughter of my mother!!

I've been thinking that we've passed through so many little villages and towns in England and in Holland and i've seen the lifestyles and life pace. And i must say that if it weren't for family and friends here, i'd be sorely tempted to abandon things here and head to a little village and set up shop there... i think i'm the sort of person who could be greatly happy with a simple little life - to work in a shop somewhere, to buy your groceries at a store where the owner knows your name, to walk everywhere, to slow down a little and enjoy the pace of life in a different zone. Why do we rush everywhere desparately, with our children and sanity flapping behind us? How do i slow down? How do i appreciate the blessings i have and be a blessing to others? How am i to serve best? So many things to think on and muse on and ponder... I pray that the heartbeat may reach its regular rhythm again and keep me going...

I've posted a few pics of Holland just cause i liked them and cause we had such a great time there. I spent the first night with family in Stadskanaal - Riksta and Johannes and their children - it was really nice to catch up with them again... and Bernadet and Marcel and their children, and Dinie and Alje came also... so we had a very gezellig afternoon all together. Tanan and Lauren came to pick me up on Sunday evening and we headed to Groningen for the night... always nice to chat with her and stay up late and drink yummy chocolate milk. Monday we bummed around in the morning and in the afternoon we got together with almost all our cousins and Ome Klaas and Tante Willy and went bowling! I didn't even think they had bowling alleys there but low and behold, i was bowled over!! Heehee! and afterwards we went out for lovely Chinese buffet with everyone. Heerlijk! We super enjoyed that.

In the picture are all our cousins, from the left, Hette, Jantine, Josha, Christine, Linda (plus a little one to come!), Lauren, Martijn and me. See everyone, we do have cousins! We just only get to see them once every five years or so.

We then spent a couple of days in Smilde, the town where my mom was born and raised and it was wonderful to spook around the haunts we used to have, a random plethora of memories

- walking on the schoolplein where we biked as kids and watched the meteor shower and sat on the carriers on the back of the bikes.

- visiting the deer and goat park in the centre of town and remembering coming here with Oma when we were young - i still can picture in my mind the coat she wore and that we were allowed to have some old bread to feed the ducks.

- visiting the cemetary where Oma and Opa are buried - an oasis of calm in a busy life - a restful, quiet place, all the memories of them come bubbling to the surface and it's difficult to be there but good. I miss them a lot.

- learning all about Smilde's history from Ome Klaas who is a big history buff and seeing pictures of a great-uncle of ours whom we never met because he was killed during WWII.

- eating yummy bread, eating yummy bread, eating yummy bread - i was in Fortinos here at home yesterday but nothing even came close to the warme bakker... i think i will have to import a warme bakker to Hamilton... i'll single handedly keep him in business

wandering in the fields on my uncles' farm

Then we headed on the train to Woubrugge - the abode of Ome Johan and Tante Tineke. We spent two days with them lapping up some other good aspects of Dutch life - yummy bread, walks along the fields with Aline and Joury, long heart to hearts on the beach at Katwijk and very yummy meals eaten with relish and a little more wine than we're used to ("i feel a little dizzy!"). Just spending time with family, getting to know them again (cause it feels we need to start over again each time) was wonderful - we miss family so much - enjoy your family if they are around! And both Tanan and Tante Tineke have so much resemblance to mom, it makes me do a double take sometimes - all three sisters are very different yet so much the same in mannerisms, facial expressions and character. We love our family!!

Apparently, we've taken a wrong turn at the canal and ended up in Australia, for what is that strange beast i see in the hertekamp? It appears to be a wallaby! Oddness truly.
And lieve Tante Tineke with Lauren and I op strand. We truly are blessed to have family who loves us and accepts us for who we are and are always happy and welcoming to us. We love you all right back!!!

So ends my epic tale of Hollandish things... we are back to life, back to reality, but the memories life on.