Customarily Speaking

My daughter arrived today from the States for a two week visit. One of the deals made when we decided to move to The Netherlands was to make sure we got to see the girls regularly throughout the year. Families were meant to be together but in today’s world, sometimes that a bit difficult. Thank God for Skype, Facebook, texting, e mail, phones, letters, packages, smoke signals and every other form of communication to help a mom out when needing to talk to my kids. All I need some days is a little scan through Pinterest to know my kids are doing great! But today I got to meet my baby girl at the Schiphol airport and hold her in my arms.

As we drove to Eindhoven laughing and catching up, she told me about her experience of coming through Customs into The Netherlands. I’ve always taught my children to obey rules and respect authority. This is especially important when traveling from one country to another. So as she approached the border guard with her passport and smile, they began asking her questions. She had just exchanged her US currency for Euros. And for some reason this brought a little concern to them. What are you doing in The Netherlands? … Visiting my family. How long will you be staying? Two weeks. Then why do you only have 200.00$? That is surely not enough for your stay of two weeks. How will you survive, where will you stay, how will you afford food and other things? Ummmm…… I’m staying with my PARENTSJ Oh… ok! Then we’ll let you come into our country.

As she told me her story, I remembered being a child and going on a fabulous vacation with my mother, my Aunt Lois and my cousin Susanne. We were driving from Michigan to Massachusetts but going through Canada on our way. Well, my mother and my Aunt were both crazy funny ladies…. And Susanne and I were just as crazy and silly. As we came to the Canadian/American border, our mothers had to pull off to the side of the road to make sure we understood the importance of being serious at the border. We barely made it through without laughing hysterically. Susanne is great at making funny faces and suppressing a laugh, while I on the other hand almost wet my pants laughing at her. She is still to this day one of the funniest people I know. I love her dearly.

Coming through Customs is always an exhausting experience. You’ve just come off a long plane ride and then you have to be on your best behavior and have an important discussion. As an American, I’ve always known this but after 9/11, nobody in America takes security lightly. Yes, we may have to stand in long lines, we may have to remove our shoes, have our passports held up and inspected, go through scanners and yes, sometimes be patted down. Do I care? NO, not one little bit! So, to the people at the airport who questioned my little girl about her money, thank you! You’re right! She should have brought more money with her but she’s a starving college kid.

Life's Ruff

Everyone who knows me knows my love for my dogs. It seems in life either you’re a dog person or a cat person. I don’t have anything against cats; it’s just that I’m more of a dog person. Ok and when I say dog, I don’t mean the kind you can dress up and put in a purse. I like dogs… stick eating, rough and tumble dogs!

As you know, we brought our two beautiful labs to The Netherlands from The United States. When we found out that we were moving, the question of the dogs and what to do came up. Should we take them, should we leave them, who would keep the dogs if we left them? They were both older being 9 and 11 years of age. Traveling with a pet is always scary, but a trip across the ocean for 10 hours is a lot to ask of an animal. Then came the question of cost to move the girls. I’m pretty sure the company my husband is working for would have moved them if we had asked but when we found out the cost we just didn’t feel right asking. It was going to cost us $6,000.00. That would cover everything from the vet bills, to getting their papers in order, to travel and finally delivery to us at our new home. So of course I’m thinking… Ok, I can drive my dogs to the vet to make sure their shots and papers are in order. I can book them a spot on the plane. My husband can make sure there’s a van at the other side to drive us all to the new house. There was no way I was taking the dogs from the plane to a train. And I didn’t even know if that was legal. So after the vet bills and their secured spot on the plane were paid for, they were ready to go international. They flew on the same plane as us. It was quite comical watching them and all the other people around us wanting to see the girls. The funniest part was when they were being boarded onto the plane their crates were going up the ramp to the plane. Thank goodness the wonderful airline had assigned people to watch over our babies and was there to make sure they didn’t tip.

Their arrival in The Netherlands was just as fun as curious on lookers wanted to get a glimpse of the new kids on the block. Pawsports in paws, they went through security with flying colors. Then onto their new stomping grounds.

Sadly we lost our little Missy to cancer about a month after we arrived. Luckily she went fast and I thank God that I brought her with me. It’s confusing enough when you’re a dog and don’t know why you’re sick but to not be with the family would have made it so much harder for her. She truly loved it here in The Netherlands. The weather was cooler and there were so many wonderful things to explore. I had so many wonderful people post on my fb page their condolences after Missy passed and thought I would include this poem here to remember.

God saw she was getting tired, and a cure was not to be.
So He put His arms around her and whispered, Come with Me.
With tearful eyes we watched her suffer and slowly fade away.
Although we loved her dearly, we could not make her stay.
A golden heart stopped beating, playful paws were put to rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best

We spent the next several months helping our other beautiful lab heal. All my focus could now be on her. Sugar had never been a day without Missy so the loss was long and difficult. Anyone who has ever heard a dog cry can understand my pain.

But, with each passing day she got better and better. So it was time to bring a new friend into our home and into Sugar’s life.

Meet Bear

Yes, he is a stick chewing, bird chasing, and bumblebee killing machine. I look forward to many more adventures here in The Netherlands with our new precious boy. And I’m proud to say he is already bilingual. He can say woof in Dutch and English. Ahhhhh smart boy!

Having a friend you can curl up with no matter where in the world you live….. Priceless!

Living Life Inside a Postcard

It’s Sunday morning and the church bells are ringing. I’m so thankful to God for what I have in my life. I am thankful for my beautiful family, my wonderful friends and an amazing opportunity to explore places around the world.

Sometimes I’ll be driving down the road or just sitting in my living room looking out to the lake behind my house and I think to myself “I live in Europe. How the heck did this happen?” I know this time in my life will not last forever so I try to make sure to take advantage of the world around me as much as possible. I still have the responsibilities of normal life…. Kids, school, activities, marriage, dinners, friends. But, I want to make sure to enjoy this time for myself as well. As a mom it’s so easy to become the person who takes care of everyone around yourself but yourself. That is definitely me. But as my children have gotten older and two of them have left for their own adventures, I’ve tried to connect back to myself. What do I like? What do I want to see? What makes me happy? Easier said than done, but I’m working on connecting more with myself. With this on my mind and moving to a new country, I am stepping out my door and into the wonderful post card life surrounding me.

It’s almost tulip season. I’m so excited because last year when I was here looking for our house it was tulip season, but I was so jet lagged that I was hazy with the need for sleep through most of it. I’m looking forward to the many places to visit and explore the beautiful fields and fields of tulips. They are incredibly beautiful.

In a few weeks my daughter is flying in from the states. We have a mommy daughter trip to Paris planned. I really don’t feel comfortable driving to Paris on my own yet so we are taking a bus tour. For only 169.E each we get our travel, hotel, breakfast and several tours in Paris. I’ve never done a bus tour but for that price, how can I pass it up? The tour guide will be speaking Dutch the entire time and I do not speak Dutch but Marie and I have decided we will just make up our own version of what we are seeing. It will be way more fun and I’m sure very funny!!

We all live by a place that sells post cards. Sometimes, we forget how beautiful and exciting the places are that we live by. The next time I’m in the States, I plan to buy a few and see where I should be exploring for new adventures. So from my post card to yours ~ Happy Travels!

Hold the Pickle, Hold the Lettuce

In my quest to find the perfect all American meal, burger and fries, I’ve run into a bit of a speed bump. The hamburgers here ……… I’ll let you add in your own adjective that describes what they serve here in The Netherlands as a burger. To me it’s unimaginable that a country that has the French fry perfected down to a culinary art can go so wrong in the meat department. I mean, making a hamburger is really cooking 101, isn’t it? Take ground beef, smash it together into a ball, flatten it, and throw it on the grill and whalaa!

Well, that’s not quite how it turns out. For some reason the hamburgers here all taste like mom’s leftover meatloaf on a bun. Not sure what’s added but it’s like a cake burger. I even went to one place describing their hamburgers as The All American Cheese Burger. They had many burgers named after cities. There was the Chicago Burger, The New Yorker, the Philadelphia… and so on. I think there were at least 15 different kinds. I thought, finally, I found the hidden place with all the good burgers. No, nope, nothing, nada! I took one bite and stopped.

Today I read an article that the first test tube hamburger would be produced at Maastricht University, a Dutch University. Why am I envisioning the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 days? Remember the part when Kate Hudson photo shops the pictures of her and Matthew McConaughey together to show what their kids would look like? It’s funny how sometimes, two rights just make a wrong. I’m thinking test tube and beef… NO

So for now, the search continues.

 I’ll report back if and when I find a good hamburger.

It’s My Life

As I write this, I’m listening to one of my all-time favorite bands, Bon Jovi. Yesterday was Jon’s birthday so of course my sources alerted me to the big day. Yes, we’re the same age. I’ll be turning the half century mark in a month. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my love for music and how different songs mark and affect your life.

I can remember songs that were popular as a kid. I remember gathering a dollar so that I could go downtown to the local music store to buy a 45 record. If I was lucky I would have five dollars to buy an album. Singing my way through my childhood and teens listening to The Jackson 5, The Supremes, Bob Seger, The Beatles and The Who. I played piano and played clarinet in my high school marching band so my love for marching band music is as strong as all other genres. I cannot live through football season without listening to the Michigan marching band play Temptation or Hawaiian War Chant. And of course I will always Hail to the Victors (even though I went to Iowa State).

My kids have all had to endure their mom singing to every song or even making songs up to almost anything in life. But along the way, I think they got used to the fact that their mother even enjoyed their music. How would I have ever survived without singing songs from The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Justin Bieber, Eminem and especially The Spice Girls? Their music has been such a huge part of my children’s lives, I’m just happy my girls and I have had these great people to help us sing together. I mean, is there really anything better than car dancing and singing at the top of your lungs to a song with your kids? These are wonderful memories for me.

But now, as I sit on the other side of the world far from Motown and the roots of my beloved music, I’m surrounded by a new world of music. Most of the music that is played on the radio comes from the US. I’m so glad that most of the Polka songs are not on the channels we listen to. I had to square dance in middle school, and I really got my fill for Polka songs back then. But there are a few songs that are very popular that are sung in Dutch that I actually like.

Ik Neem Je Mee

I'll Take You

Ik Neem Je Mee

And Sex Met Die Kale

Sex With Those Bald

Sex Met Die Kale

Not sure what they are about but they have very catchy tunes and every kid and most adults can sing all the words. I’m thinking this may help me learn the Dutch language. I just need the video with the little bouncing ball above the words to sing my way through it.

So as Jon would say….. I just want to live while I’m alive!! And I choose to sing my way through! By the way, Happy Birthday JBJ!