Dankbar Donnerstag oder Thankful Thursday: Loved Ones

Okay, what can I say? I said that I would be posting more and now a week and a half has gone by and I've been quiet. I suck.

Things going on here:

• It's been fairly warm. 
• I bought a (used) air conditioner and then went all around town looking for a vent hose. This is more complicated than it sounds and involved tears.
• I worked out six days in a week.
• One day I came out of the commissary and saw a cute guy smiling at me. I thought it was because I looked pretty, since I had actually done my hair and makeup. Then I got to my bike and found a piece of lettuce in my hair and figured that's why he was smiling. My salad sorting may have been a bit too vigorous.

Tornado Kartoffel

Today though, I'm thankful for friends and family. DH and I spent last Saturday in Mannheim at their Stadtfest (city fest) with some new friends. We ate our way through, getting fries and corn on the cob, and ice cream and "Tornado Kartoffel"  which was a potato that was spiral cut and shoved onto a stick and then fried. Fried things are good. (Even if "Tornado Potato" does sound better than "Tornado Kartoffel", you can't quibble with fried things.) We talked and laughed and enjoyed the beautiful day. This Saturday, my cousin is coming to visit and we will be going with the same friends to the Heidelberg Illumination. Then next week, we will be driving down to Bavaria to see the sites down there. 

I'm so happy to have friends here. It took a while to meet people, but it seems like once you get to know a few, more will wander into your sphere. It's wonderful to know people who think differently than you and different backgrounds. It enriches your life. That's one of the great things about the military is getting to know people you would never otherwise get an opportunity to meet.

A Bavarian town which will go unnamed for now

And family. My cousin is coming and a few weeks later, we expect his sister to visit for a couple of weeks. Being overseas, time with family is not the same as it used to be. My family is in Montana and it's an expensive and long flight to get over to see them, so it doesn't happen often. When I get to see family, it's a pleasure. For me, they are the people I've known my whole life (or theirs, for the younger ones) and we have similar backgrounds and upbringing. There are inside jokes and catching up on what's going on and honest and frank discussion about personal issues. 

So, I may continue sucking in the blogging department. I am reading your blogs, I'm just not tending mine. But for right now, while I've got friends and family around, that's okay.