Home Again. Home Again.

There were so many highlights from our summer. But one of the best has to be a special trip that AJ and I got to take at the end of June.

We got to go home. That's what it felt like when we got off the plane in Brussels. Familiar. Like we were home. 

AJ's fifth grade class in Belgium had an overnight bike trip the last week of school (the last week in June.) At the beginning of the year last year, AJ's teacher gave him the permission slip and AJ tried to give it back. He explained he wouldn't need it because he was moving. It started the wheels turning. I knew that school in Minnesota would be finished by the end of May. I talked to his teachers and they assured me that if he was able to make it back, he would certainly be allowed to go on the bike trip. 

In the middle of a frozen January, two of us were feeling especially homesick. It was a good time to purchase frequent flyer tickets for a trip in June. Having those tickets, and knowing we'd be able to go back to Belgium sooner than later, helped the two of us immensely.

We landed on a Sunday morning. Belgium was playing in a World Cup match that very night and we went with friends to a BBQ. (It was the closest I've ever seen the Belgians have anything close to a Super Bowl Party). In the twenty minutes before the match start time, we almost got in five different automobile accidents. Everyone was in a race to get to their destinations before game time.

I know jet lag was a factor, but within a few minutes of being at the party -- seeing old friends and catching up -- I was instantly reminded of something that had been easy to forget. I forgot how hard we had to work, every single day, just to understand a portion of what was going on around us. My French came back in a hurry (although not as good as AJ's did) and we had a great week.  

At the end of the week, with a full summer of fun ahead of us, we were ready to go home to Minnesota again. With the comfort of always knowing we can always go back home.