This post will probably show my age...well more like my father's age since it was him or someone his age in my memory singing the song,
"Happy Trails to You". It seems like the appropriate song to "sing" on this blog post after having a "send-off" weekend at the Hoff house.
My July post (
Link to Post ) about "Camaraderie" talked about the friendships one makes living as an expat and one knows will eventually come to a day of goodbye hugs as one moves away off to another foreign city or back to their homeland. Well, that day came for my comrade, Elizabeth, and her family. And in true Camaraderie style, we did things right....Darla (former Stuttgart-er) flew in from her new city, Berlin, so all big and little comrades could be together under one roof for the last 3 days of us all living in Germany at the same time. These goodbye hugs are the HARDEST part of living as an expat but it goes with the territory. It was the weekend I imagined...full of laughs, belly laughs, laughs, and yes a few tears.
Now, as I wipe away the puddles on my check, I leave you with Dale Evans and Roy Rogers singing "Happy Trails to You, until we meet again" (ok...so use your imagination and hum a bit)....
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
So...my good friend...even though you seemed to be "jumping for joy" because you are going home (or maybe it was jumping cause you are leaving us "craz-ies"), know that you will be missed here in Stuttgart! Thanks for helping me survive my first two years in a foreign country( horse bites, dog bites, zoos, pools, crazy traffic, many meals, carpooling kids, playgrounds, Biergartens, tv towers, bike rides, Forest runs, Festivals, culture lessons, water slide jumps, alpine roller coasters, cooking lessons, grocery lessons, German lessons, how to ignore whining lessons, and and the list goes on. I look forward to many more years of camaraderie-Happy Trails on your next chapter!!!
