independence day

Dear Nana,

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since you left and I came to see you. What a strange week that was! It began with the Czech and I getting very anxious and excited about our move, and ended with me in your backyard without you there.

The Czech was very sweet about everything, Nana. He took care of the bulk of the packing while I cried and tried to come to terms with you being gone. He told me to come see you and our family when I had scarcely imagined it would be possible. I flew out to Utah on Thursday while his entire family came to Florida for the Czech family reunion.

Do you know how much your eight boys love you? I saw seven of them during those few days and wish I could have stayed longer to share in their hugs. They are such good men. They sang for you, all weekend, but especially at the service. All of them share the love of music you and Papa instilled in them.

There was so much family around, it was wonderful! All 23 of your grandchildren, minus one grandson-in -law were there. All seven of your living sons. All seven of your living daughters-in-law. Your sisters were there, your adoptive children, nieces, nephews, friends, students, and neighbours. They all love you. We cried together and we really laughed together. The Stud and I had so much fun laughing and dancing and celebrating. We hope you don't mind. Dancing was all we could do to keep our composure when we saw the Tall Guy weep.

I came back to Florida very early Sunday morning. Mum, the Tall Guy, and the Stud drove me up. I wish I could have stayed longer, but the Czech needed me and Europe was waiting. Did you know we were moving to Germany? It happened so suddenly that scarcely anyone still knows. The Czech has an internship with a man I knew when I lived in Brussels. He's so excited, Nana! He wants to work hard and get a good job so he can provide for our little family. It means so much to me to see him so happy.

We flew to Germany on Monday, arriving early Tuesday morning. Then began the process of accumulating lost baggage and trying to figure out what time zone we were in. A week later, the Czech is about on schedule while I fear I am still catching up on sleep from my last week in the States.

The German countryside is beautiful and we feel very at home in our new surroundings. I keep rattling off wish lists of plants to the Czech that I want in our future garden after seeing the beautifully cultivated flora of our neighbourhood. At the top of the list are hydrangeas, dahlias, and a wide assortment of hostas. We are living with an American family, which means that we get to speak English at home. It is a huge blessing as neither of us speak German and scarcely had time to learn it in the three weeks before we came. There are five children, and the youngest two keep us busy. We read books together and the Czech and I get mercilessly chastised for pronouncing a German word incorrectly.

Today was the Czech's first day of work. He left early enough this morning that you would have thought he was going to seminary. His commute into the city is nearly an hour, but luckily is fairly straight forward. The children are all at school and I find myself all alone with a huge stack of laundry. After three months of pretty constant time together, having the Czech go off to work is very odd. I keep thinking how fitting it is though that he began on July 4th, or Independence Day. Since recently graduating, this is his first chance to step out on his own and make his mark on the world. Today, he is declaring his independence.

I've already made some lovely friends here and am wanting to catch up with some old ones. They have all made promises of spending time with me in our stay here. I am grateful for the companionship when I know I will now be seeing little of the Czech.

Well, the sooner I get laundry done, the sooner I can go for a walk through the hills again. I never get tired of the sight of a corn field and trees.

I love you,

engquist