Never Skipped A Beat!

Once my parents left I had one thing I had to do before Erin came back to Germany on the 8th of July. I needed to go to Dusseldorf and get my passport, which was lost, then found, and mailed to the Dusseldorf USA embassy. It was quit a trip because I needed to be there by 12 noon on Friday in order to make my "appointment" on time, and I had to have my passport in order to get my visa renewed for another 3 months, which I had to do first thing on Monday morning. Basically this was the last chance I had to get things done in time. This was no picnic but I got it done, and made my appointment within the last ten minutes due to a delay in the train schedule. Once I had it I felt so relieved! I had my passport back and I did not have to worry about getting to and from places without it, nor did I have to worry about our big trip anymore. Fehw!

After a very upsetting 2 game sweep to Solingen at home on the 4th of July, we were pretty much stuck in 2nd place to finish out the rest of the season. We played well enough to win, but everything we hit hard was right at someone. That is the breaks some times! Bonn was playing us at home the next weekend and they needed to win four straight, and we needed to lose another four straight in order to not guarantee 2nd place. (Plus, if Solingen did lose two, we could catch them for first!)

Our focus quickly shifted on beating Bonn and guaranteeing second place going into our month long break for the European Championships. Each year, the professional leagues in Europe take a three/four week break from their season so players from each squad can represent their country and not miss regular season games. I had never taken this big of a break in the middle of the season, but I have to be honest, I was really looking forward to traveling with Erin who would arrive on Friday morning! So, although our focus was on Bonn, I also had time to focus on getting Erin back to Germany, as well as putting the finishing touches on our little European adventure which would begin the day after our Bonn games.

On Friday I woke up around 5 a.m. to drive to Frankfurt and pick Erin up. I was eager and equally nervous to see her again, as it had been exactly 10 weeks since she was in Europe.
Although we have Skype (which is amazing for any long distance relationship!!!) we would much rather be together. When I first came to Germany the distance was extremely hard on both of us, and for a while we both thought about having her move out here while I played, as she could take college classes online to occupy her time. However, once Erin moved to Portland she received a great job offer from AT&T before her first trip here. She was then offered an even better job with the FANTASTIC outdoor clothing and environmental movement company, Patagonia. Neither one of us was sure of wether she would be able to come out here again, but once Erin accepted the job with Patagonia she asked for and received the twenty days off that she needed to visit again. We were both really excited about this opportunity, and we agreed that she could not turn down this job opportunity with such a great company. Plus, I live with 5 other guys and things can get a little messy and noisy around the house. Not our idea of quality!

So, once I arrived at the airport in time to pick Erin up, the butterflies and knots returned with the anticipation of seeing her again. Ten weeks seemed like a long time. I waited at the customs gate for about a half hour before her flight came out and then all of a sudden things felt right again, she was with me again! We never skipped a beat. Plus, she looked absolutely amazing!!! I felt whole again, and I realized that having her with me for the next 18 days was such a blessing! We were both really happy to be together again.