Our Lady in Maastricht

We visited the beautiful city of Maastricht, Netherlands today so my oldest daughter could participate in the university's open house day. Friends went with us, thus we were a caravan of two vehicles and 11 persons, driving the 1.5 hours southwest to this historic Dutch treasure.

My daughter and I spent the entire day in presentations and lectures at the faculty of Economics while the rest of our party toured downtown and sampled the local pub fare. I'd like to say I feel a bit cheated, not having seen any of the local attractions, except this church - Basilica of Our Lady - which I blipped while riding the overcrowded shuttle bus from parking enroute to the department. However, that's not entirely true. Yes, today I missed the beautiful architecture and culture, but I also traded the bitter cold winter wind for a cozy seat in impressive lecture halls where my daughter and I learned of all the exciting opportunities for study, travel, networking, career development, and plain old-fashioned fun that await her in a major European University.

I left a little euphoric - that the horrendous struggles of this move to Germany will, in fact, bring to fruition the dreams that my children can experience a rich, unique multi-cultural college life that opens doors to more possibilities than we could even imagine isolated in small-town America. I am excited for my oldest daughter, and hopeful that I can find a way for my other three children to also spread their wings and engage more deeply in the world - to adventure into their lives with a sense of immense possibility.

It is an amazing world we live in with so much to be learned - places to explore, people to meet - I pray all my children embrace the opportunities that this new life offers and take full advantage of the blessings we have.