Leaving and Remembering

Wow! It’s hard to live somewhere for three years, leave, and then get on with a new life.

I keep thinking about hopping on a train and being in a new place in just an hour or so. I remember fondly my walks with Rebecca to the city center on market day, warming up with a fresh stroopwafel. I miss “koffie of thee afspraaks” with friends: Coffee sometimes, tea other times. It’s nearly tulip time in Holland, and I can’t help but get misty-eyed knowing I won’t be there this year.

Oh, there’s plenty to love about life in the U.S., yet there are those pieces of Holland I grew to love. Now, those experiences…that life…are across an ocean. It’s a fissure in my life like I haven’t felt before. Leaving my hometown for college, saying good-bye to friends upon graduation from university, even leaving the U.S. for Europe…nothing compares to this.

So, take heed! Don’t move to Holland for three years, move back home, and then expect not to miss it!