millers in deutschland

it came at the perfect time. or, i should say, THEY came at the perfect time. the millers. in deutschland. my heart was so full it almost burst.

the night before they arrived i was cuddling in bed with piper, talking about our visitors. i was reminding her of mommy’s friend sarah – remember her? she also has 2 little girls, and she brought you those fun princess jammies before we moved. i then proceeded to tell her that sarah and i have been friends since we were isabel’s age! 10! can you believe it! 

i honestly can’t believe it. almost 30 years of friendship, with more stories than either of us can even remember to tell. and now it was time to add another chapter to that book!

after sarah & mark’s arrival at munich airport (where i cried 2x watching sweet reunions while i waited – aren’t airports truly the happiest and saddest places?!), we hit the road straight back to nuremberg. we only had 3.5 days before they left for the rest of their european adventure, and we were determined to make the most of every minute. first stop: sausage. from there, it was all aboard the schwein (pig / pork) train, with frequent stops. at dinner the first night the boys split an all-meat platter – it was no joke.  at one point mark confessed to sweating bacon grease. so awesome, seriously.

as always with these visits, the days flew by way too fast. we hit all of the major must-see attractions:  documentation center to brush up on nuremberg’s role in world war 2, a much lighter afternoon at rothenburg ob de tauber (truly, the most adorable city on earth), a morning in bamberg (more sausage, please) and then dinner at “the berg” – a long-standing beer festival in a neighboring town where we at pretzels bigger than our heads. there was laughing, sharing stories, and beer. of course.

sarah and mark were a HUGE hit with the girls – stella even applied her nickname for wen (“big teddy”) to mark, who by day 2 had become “mark teddy.” so adorable.

on the morning of the miller’s departure day, i woke up literally in tears, not ready for them to go. i’m definitely aware of how much i miss my friends and family from home – the thought takes up a little corner of my mind and is always present. but having them here brought all of that “missing home” to the forefront, and i was SO blue thinking about them leaving. their next stop was salzburg and i dreaded the thought of taking them to the train station … so we didn’t! instead we embarked upon a spontaneous road trip – drop the millers off in salzburg (4 more hours of catching up! yes!) and then a night at a beautiful wellness resort for the maxeys. big win all around.

2 nights before they were due to head home, i got a message from sarah that they were safe and fine in munich, but not loving the city. hearing that was all i needed to beg them to come back to nuremberg – jump on the train! we’ll have one more day / evening together! come on! and it worked! the next thing i knew, they were back in nuremberg, and we were having one more amazing dinner together. at this point mark had declared a BAN ON SCHWEIN, so we hit the local thai place and washed down all of that sausage with some red curry. delish.

i honestly have no words to describe how much i loved having them here. it was perfect. not only was it amazing to see sarah and mark again, but it was also such a blessing to be able to see and experience our city through new eyes. they were SO sweet and enthusiastic and excited by it all – which made us the same. such a gift to have that little reminder of how amazing this adventure is, and to not take it for granted.

sar / mark – i have no words to describe how much i loved having you here. it meant the world that you guys would come all this way. truly. so very grateful for such beautiful friends, for laughing until my cheeks hurt, and for the bag of cheezits. oh, and the red vines. YUM. love you both beyond – germany 2014?!?!