One Year Anniversary!

 Our wedding song was “Rollercoaster” and it has truly captured the last couple years for us. 

So, there was a real poignancy in celebrating our first anniversary.

To celebrate we decided to travel to the beautiful town of Amersfoort for a few days.

It is just an hour from here-but time out together is a real treat.

Sinterklass's clothes hanging out to dry!

Amersfoort got it’s “city rights” in 1259 so everywhere you look, you see history.

      We stayed at the Lange Jan Hotel right in the town center.

It was a wonderful homebase.

We loved looking out at the town square and being able to hear the tower bells chime.

 

 

My attention span has been almost non-existent these last months, and funnily enough, even though I’m not a big cook, I’ve been most drawn to watching cooking shows, like “Top Chef”. So, I’ve gained an appreciation for all that goes into being a really high level chef. Because of this, we were inspired to spend our anniversary evening at a restaurant that had a Michelin Star. We were able to walk to it from our hotel and it was a real treat. We had a seven course vegetarian “tasting menu” so each dish was a surprise. They were also each little works of art. It was so delicious and a very special way to celebrate on a cold day.

Walking home afterwards it was special to see the Koppelpoort (built in the 1300’s!) all lit up at night.

On our last morning we awoke to a flower market that had been set up right below us.

Such beautiful flowers! And the prices of them here are so low compared to the U.S.

Only 15 euros ($17) for this giant bouquet!

We loaded up with as much as we could carry on our way out. ;)

Since our anniversary landed onThanksgiving, my heart was in many places. It's truly an American holiday so not celebrated here. But, I was sure thinking of  happy Thanksgiving past…

…and all the people that mean so much to me, who are spread out all over the world (and universe!).

So thankful for the man I married and to each of you reading this right now.

Here’s hoping the rollercoaster slows way down in the coming year.

❤️

                            

West Coast Pilgrimage Tour

Well, we arrived in Holland two weeks ago. So much to share but life has a momentum of its own sometimes. The highlight since we returned is that I am officially registered with the city of Alkmaar as a resident. The amount of hoops we’ve had to go through with the government have been pretty intense. Thankfully, this feels like one of the last ones. I have my first doctor’s appointment coming up and it’s beginning to feel more real: Han and I are finally sharing a home! 

But before I go too far in that direction, I want to share about the epic road trip we took down the Pacific Coast. Before I made my official move, I really wanted to spend time with the kids (and 3/4 of them are now living in California!).  It was so special to all be together in Kauai and witnessing their lives in their new homes was overdue. It felt like an important trip, not only to spend time together but to return to the place I was born and have so much family history. And to share this all with Han made it even more meaningful.

We were blown away by all the beauty we experienced and at the same time, had to grapple with my layered feelings of loss. I don’t think there’s any way it could be otherwise. It’s not often that you are knowingly closing one chapter of  your life to begin a new one. I can capture the beauty in photos but it’s hard to capture the complexity of feelings and it feels important to be real about that, too. 

But the beauty and the connection we experienced along the way made such a difference!

We spent our first night in Newport, Oregon, with our dear family friend, Jeanne, and her sister, Barb. Jeannie was married to Mom’s college friend, Kae. 

It was wonderful to spend time together and to share so many happy memories.

Our second night was spent amongst the California Redwoods. Such a sacred space!

And then we arrived in San Francisco.

 

Zack has living here almost a year, working at San Francisco International Airport as an air traffic controller. Aidan just moved in with him a few weeks before we arrived. He’s taking some time to switch direction after working for Tesla for the last three years. They’ve always been so close, it’s great to know they are together! They are living in the heart of the city and we stayed in a nearby Airbnb. There are pros and cons to living in the city and we saw both while we were there. It’s a great time in their lives to give it a try and San Francisco is remarkable for the amount of parks it has and how bicycle friendly it is.

We spent a great few days together before heading south on Highway 1 to Santa Barbara.

Here again, we were able to stay with beloved friends. The McCue’s have been in my life since my earliest memories. Sue was another friend from Mom’s college days, another “auntie” in my life.

I’ve traveled here to stay many times with Mom and we were missing her greatly.

 At the same time, it was so comforting to be here. 

Such a special spot in the world for me.

Our next stop was further down the coast to Long Beach, 

the city where I was born and where Isabel is living with Mitch. 

 It sure felt good to see her so happy and settled.

She’s enrolled in Long Beach City College (at 17!), has just started a job as a covid tester for the school district and recently celebrated her first year anniversary with her boyfriend, Griffin, who we really like.

 

We loved hanging around Long Beach and even took a day out for Disneyland to really blow Han’s mind!

We ended up leaving my car with Isabel and flying back up to San Francisco to spend Aidan’s 25th birthday weekend together. As I said in the beginning, it was truly an epic trip!

Always feeling Mom’s presence along the way.

It felt extra special to fly out of San Francisco:

Zack has the coolest office; fun to see it from the plane.

Next stop: setting up life in Holland.

You truly never know where life will take you, do you?

There is so much I am feeling that I can’t put into words, so I will just end with:

...to be continued.

To see more photos of our trip, click here.

❤️

Kauai

 We've just returned from two weeks of beauty in Kauai.

It couldn't have been a more beautiful and restorative trip.

We were so happy to have all the kids join us for the first week

(including Isabel's boyfriend of one year, Griffin, who fit right in!)

And then Han and I stayed an extra week on our own.

There were so many firsts for him.

 It was really fun to see it through his eyes.

While we were there, I had a phone session with my oncologist and was relieved to hear that my blood work still looks good. I've made it to the one year post-chemo milestone, which is great news.

We thought about Mom constantly.

I had visited many of the same spots with her when I celebrated my 50th almost 5 years ago.

Kauai was one of her favorite places in the world and I know she was here with us this time, as well.

I made a little ritual each morning of uploading my favorite photos from the day before here:

Kauai 2021 

It's so much more fun to do it as I go, and not come home to a big job of going through photos.

What a gift to have this time to continue to be nourished through nature. To continue to celebrate Mom- and life in general. There is a lot of sadness and loss these days but there is also so much beauty. These last two weeks have been a big reminder of that. Being there, you see it with your eyes and you feel it in your body. 

Sending a big dose of Aloha spirit to each of you!