and so it is...

Yes, I know it’s been far too long, but here I am :) with a smile on my face. When I was 14 I remember sitting in Dr. Lance Whitten’s chair for my first orthodontist visit and hearing him talk underneath that mask that doctors sometimes wear over their faces.I’m pretty sure he knew I could hear him talk with his assistants as I opened my mouth nice and wide, “Wow, look at the size of those incisors (your front teeth), we could go ice skating on those babies!” All the assistants laughed. From that moment on I vowed to always smile as big as I could to show off my ice skating rink size teeth and in these sad times I’ll do no different.

These past two weeks have brought tragedy to my family, but also provided the opportunity for me to go home and be with my family. My dad’s sister Janet passed away two weeks ago Thursday in San Diego and we gathered last Wednesday to celebrate her life. I have so many funny memories of my Auntie and will miss her so much, we all will.

I left Terville at 7am on Tuesday morning for my extremely long/short journey to my real home. I took a train from Thionville to Paris, walked from one train station to another in Paris and then took a 45 minute train from Paris Nord to Charles de Gaulle Airpot. From there I flew 8 hours and 20 minutes to Chicago and from Chicago I flew 4 hours and 30 minutes to San Diego . When I boarded the airplane in Chicago I was super excited to see that the plane was more than half empty and then heard the flight attendant announce “Ladies and Gentlemen please feel free to stretch out, there will be 170 open seats on our flight to Chicago” I was ecstatic. So I sat in my assigned seat covered up with my blanket and waited, for about 2 minutes when a young, hippie looking guy with a big glass bead around his neck gave me a BIG smile from across the aisle, “Is anyone sitting next to you?” This was the point that I want slap myself for forgetting my iPod back in Terville. This soft spoken, green eyed, gorgeous smile, long haired, TALKATIVE man sat next to me and talked for at least 8 hours and 15 minutes, I wanted to jump out of the window, I really did, but instead I uncovered my ice skating rinks, smiled and kept involved in the conversation.

When I finally made it to San Diego I shed my layers of clothes and took in a deep breath of warm air, there was a time in my life when 65 degrees was cold, but let me tell you I was so close to putting on my bathing suit and getting into a hot tub that night, but didn’t. I was so glad to be home and warm, but the one thing I wanted most was to see my niece and finally meet my nephew and soon I did. Mya is so much bigger and smarter than when I saw her last in August and JoJo was so big and pretty much a clone of my brother in law Jon. I was excited to hold him and kiss his big fat cheeks and to talk to Mya because she could respond now and even take commands very well :) I love them both so much. Overall I had an amazing journey home. I wish we, as an entire family came together more often and on more joyous occasions, but thank you Auntie Jan for living a life that affected so many and had the strength to bring us together.

Back in COLD-Ville, the heat is broken in my bed room and it’s in the 30’s around the clock in this place, so needless to say I stay bundled up to keep warm. Terville is still Terville and I will continue to stay positive about my time here and find ways to make the most of my experience. Speaking of which, last weekend when Regan’s dad was in town we found out the movie theater in Luxembourg plays original versions of movies, you know what that means ENGLISH! So I see at least a weekly voyage to Luxembourg (a 30 minute drive away) in our future. Next week is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I’m excited, it gives me something to look forward to, besides matches I guess. Last Sunday we saw Twilight, which surprisingly I enjoyed. Well for now that’s about all, back to training and um…training, and we don’t have another off weekend for the rest of the season so get on MSN and AIM, send lots of emails, and call to keep me entertain. Peace and love!