Steve Left Today

Steve left today. I dropped him off about 1:00 and by now he is hopefully sleeping soundly in business class somehwere over the Atlantic. He should arrive around 1:00am Central Time. It will be 8:00am in Germany. It was a little surreal leaving him at the airport today. It felt like I was just dropping him off for one of his usual 2-week stints over there......and I guess technically, I will be seeing him in a couple of short weeks. The weird part is that I will be going there instead of him coming back home. The even weirder part is that he won't be coming back to our house - or the U.S. for quite some time. Everything he needed to do had to be done by the time he left today - because he won't have a chance to come back and take care of it. We didn't get a chance to go say goodbye to the neighbor kids and that made me really sad. They ADORE Steve. :( We have wondered aloud if they will still think we're cool when we come back and they are two years older. There is still alot to do before I leave - which should be the 29th. The movers will come on the 26th and there is still some prep work to do before they get here. There other night I went to bed with a feeling unlike any I have experienced in many years. It was the kind of excitement that can only be described as a kid on Christmas Eve. I couldn't even close my eyes - I was so excited to think of the surprises that are in store for us. I can't wait to wake up and open my eyes in our little house in the little town that we will call home for the next few years. I'm anticipating a slower pace - more simplicity (however complicated by language and cultural barriers). I'm expecting a huge learning curve, but one with which I hope I will be patient and open-minded.