A Week with Mom & Dad

Back in August when I was preparing for my adventure, I never considered the possibility of my parents visiting Bad Homburg. I knew that the four months would fly by, and I'd be coming home for Christmas for some well-deserved family time. 

Fast forward to the present. I just spent an outstanding six days with my parents, and now I can't imagine my Germany experience without their visit. It's one thing to write blog posts and make FaceTime calls, both of which I've enjoyed immensely. However, there's been nothing I've valued more than having them here with me and being able to share the life I've lived since mid-August. 

Together, enjoying the sunset in Heidelberg

We packed six days with laughs, sights, long conversations, and plenty of good meals. The Judson kids took to my parents right away, and every morning it seemed Izzy or Alex had a new idea for a game with them. Both of them asked me this morning where my parents had gone, and it was a little sad for all of us when I said they had to fly home. 

Finally got a photo with Darryl

More and more, I've come to realize hom instrumental Nina and Simon have been to my experience. I hope that in our lengthy after-dinner conversations, my parents saw how kind they've been to me. Nina and Simon have given me freedom to explore and responsibility as part of the family. At the end of the day, having a home to sleep in is the greatest part of my Germany trip. 

I was able to show off more than just my home life; soccer, a tour of Accadis, and some walks around Bad Homburg were all slated in. We spent nearly an hour with Darryl touring my school and talking about sports, Germany, travel, and the work I've done. It's been my pleasure to help out with Darryl's sports classes and to be a part of the school community. 

They also saw me play soccer twice--once with the mens team and then during my junior team's Saturday match against Konigstein. Both turned out to be perfect examples of my playing experience here. During the past few weeks the mens trainer has unveiled some unique drills, and we did another on on Wednesday with my parents watching. We also scrimmaged full field for over half of practice, which is also typical of those sessions. Tired from a long week of travel, I played with mostly adrenalin in my junior team game. Everyone on my squad came out to play, as we looked to take points off Konigstein--one ahead of us in the table. We scored early, and though our opponents put pressure on, our breaks kept coming and theirs never quite worked. The score ended up being 7-0, and probably the closest 7-0 game I've ever been a part of. My team wanted it to be my evening, and they even gave me the captains band for the final twenty minutes (see photo above). I finally got some photos of me playing soccer. Despite the orange jerseys (normally we're red, white, or black--crazy Germans), I'll hold onto those photos forever. 

My mom told me that now when she reads my blog, she'll be able to picture everything I'm doing. My parents saw Bad Homburg, and though they'll never know it like me, they have a sense of my German home. Now my parents have such a stronger understanding of what I've been up to, and that's why I can't imagine my Germany experience without their visit. The planning allowed me to discover new places as I prepared for the visit. I've become so comfortable with travel in Germany that I often ignore some really cool things. As a solo wanderer I tend to walk fast and always have a destination in mind. Traveling and seeing the sights from their perspective opened up so many new things for me. It makes me realize that I will never be "done" with Germany; no matter what, there will always be more to enjoy. I also see how traveling with family and friends can be so amazing. Even though I've been living with my parents for seventeen-plus years, our week in Germany together brought us even closer. 

A pretty damn impressive tree in Bad Homburg. We hit (mostly) gorgeous weather  during
the week. Not bad for a month where every other week has been dreadfully grey and rainy. 

In my next post I'm going to list some of the high points of the week including our travels in and around Bad Homburg and the Frankfurt area, as well as our day trips to Heidelberg and Cologne. For now, I'm so thankful we got to share this experience. It's something we'll remember forever. I'm looking forward to coming home, but I'd be insane to look past my final three weeks here.