Coping

OK, this is decidely the worst blip photo I've ever uploaded and hopefully the last incredibly pathetic attempt at posting something on a day I'd rather hide under covers and start anew another time. As usual, when I feel this bad, we'll focus only on the positive....

Returned home today from a week with the in-laws. We brought with us this beautiful 7-passenger VW minvan which was their Christmas present to us (delivered a bit late, but still a wonderful gift). For nearly two years we've managed with only a 5-passanger Honda Civic, although we are a family of six. It was one of the readjustment lessons we learned when we moved from the US to Germany. In Maryland, we'd owned two vehicles, one of which was a large van. But it was very old with excessive milage and just not something we could bring over (would not have passed German inspections). We'd hoped to buy a new van here, but circumastances prevented that, so we learned to live without. Most of the time, given the fantastic availabilty of mass transit, we've been fine. Incovenient, but do-able. First-world problems, right?

So it was quite a blessing that my MIL decided she would buy herself a new van and give us her "previously loved" one. It's wonderful for our entire family to be able to go somewhere together now. We might even take a vacation together this year. Until now, anytime we all wanted to go somewhere, one or more had to find a way with bus and rail to meet the rest of us. It added costs, time, and hassel - thus preventing us from doing very much as a family. With older teens nearly ready to move out, the days of family outings are already numbered, so I'm very grateful for this "new" car.