Affairs of the heart

Cheers to Katie and Pat!

The hardest part about living half a world away from those you love is you miss some pretty special moments. That’s happening today for us.

Two years ago, a few weeks after we first arrived in Bulgaria, we missed the wedding of Teri and Eric Hatchell. Teri is my cousin, but it’s more accurate to say that she and her sister, Katie, are like nieces to Melody and me. Heck, Katie still calls my darling bride Auntie Melody.

Katie and Teri are close to Jenna, our daughter, in that cousin-y kind of way. They have traveled with us (most notably about 15 years ago to Washington, D.C., where they served as babysitters during my father-in-law’s wedding). But they also visited us in Minnesota, spent time together at Jenna’s grandparents – my parents – Up North, and it was Teri’s influence that helped Jenna find her way to the University of Wisconsin.

Katie and Jenna share Chicago as a home base now. There’s lots of overlap, lots of connections.

And today, Katie is getting married in Milwaukee to a heck of a sweet guy and, as with her sister’s wedding two years ago, we’re going to miss this one, too.

The pull of family is strong for those of us in this ex-pat world. We resist. The pull, like gravity, never lets up. Yes, we fill our days and nights traveling unfamiliar roads, meeting new people and fighting the inevitable pull.

It comes at us in waves sometimes. Yes, we miss those joyful moments like Katie’s wedding – and Teri’s. But we also miss the mundane. A quick visit over a cup of coffee with my mom. A game of golf with my dad and brother. A beer in a favorite pub. The familiar patter of conversation with long-time friends. A walk in the woods along trails I’ve trekked since I was a young boy.

We substitute it with new friends and new experiences, but the pull is strong and unrelenting. We will resist. There is still much to discover – about ourselves and our surroundings. And there is joy in creating new connections, new life-long friends, new stories that will certainly be shared over a beer many years from now. It just takes time.

***
In the meantime, and on a less sentimental note, I’ve had a rough start to the school year, health-wise. A bad knee kept me off my bike for long stretches and I was worried I’d have to have surgery. I hurt my knee at, um, a wedding this summer. Let’s say I was over-enthusiastic about the “Jump Around” part of the festivities (so it’s probably a good thing I’m not at a Wisconsin wedding after all).

Anyway, I saw a doctor in Sofia and he prescribed a supplement/medicine that I don’t think is available in the U.S. But my knee is miraculously better. (Turns out I have osteo-arthritis. I’d probably benefit if I dropped a few kilos, but that’s another story for another day.)

But I’m back on my bike and, lo and behold, had my first real dog scare of the new school year today. Up on a trail I had traveled several times previously, I was chugging along when out of the corner of my eye I saw two dogs take off after me. I was on a dirt path but traveling slightly downhill; I figured I could outpace them. I was wrong. One of them was pretty damned fast and was gaining on me. I pedaled harder, but couldn’t shake him. He was barking furiously and I wasn’t sure what to do. So I yelled. “HEY!!!!!” I went full lunatic and the dog stopped in its tracks. I’m sure he was confused. I was relieved. I haven’t been bitten yet by one of these guys, and I’m not altogether certain if they are just barkers or biters. But I’m not eager to find out, either.

Anyway, someone told me they hadn’t read much about me biking, so I figured I’d throw that in there. I’m riding now about three times a week and the weather here has been incredible. … I’m hoping for a couple more months of this, but that might be too optimistic. We shall see.

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