Germany Head

Seriously, I got a massage yesterday and was so relaxed at the end that I asked the girl the same exact question two times in a row. As in . . .

Me: “Wow! You’re parents are in China! How long will they be there?”

Her: “10 days.”

Me: How long will they be there?”

Her: “10 days.”

Exact. Same. Question.

Two things: I was really relaxed. And my head is full of more stuff than normal. Oh, and I only got like four-ish hours of sleep the night before due to my head being full of more stuff than normal (see above). Okay, so that’s three things. But that just proves my point. Right?

It feels like a big, huge ball of stress that’s different than any stress I know. Not really I-have -to-get-stuff-done kind of stress, although, let’s be honest, I DO. But just the constant, in the back of my mind at all times, I’m-leaving-for-a-year-and-everything-I-know-about-day-to-day-everything-is-going-to-be-different. Oh, and … (oops, my husband just asked me a question and I don’t remember what I was going to write in this sentence. Just keeping it real for you.) Seriously. I have Germany Head.

So — here’s a small glimpse into Germany Head. Ready?

I hope Hanna gets off her training wheels before we go so we can ride our bikes everywhere when we get there. That makes me think how glad I am we got Grace a new bike for Christmas. How fun that will be! I wonder if we’ll ever ride our bikes to take them to school. Oh school. OH SCHOOL! How will they do? I hope they make friends quickly. Friends that speak English. Maybe they can teach them English. That would be fun. I wonder if they’ll have any sleepovers in Germany? What will that be like? Will their parents be nice to them? Oh man! How will I know how to handle getting to know their parents before they go to a friend’s house?!? That’s a little scary. You know what else is scary? Thinking about going out to eat. What if all they have is like blood sausage and some beer that I hate? Do I just get up and leave? It’s a small town, so will they mark us as rude foreigners if we do that? Oh look! There’s the rebate form for my contacts that I couldn’t find! . . .

Scary, huh?

So today, I did what I am learning is really the only way to deal with such things. I went to my place in the living room and laid face down and, again, asked the God Who is sending us to Germany for a year to take every. single. detail and make it happen His very perfect way.

Oh, and tonight I practiced my German-living by drinking some beer. Just keeping it real.