My Camp David

The holidays are almost over and I hope everyone who reads this has a bright new year ahead. I just returned from a week at my favorite place on earth. I think I say that a lot, and I do love many places, however, Garmisch is truly one of my favorite places to spend time.

The other day I was explaining to my 12 year old daughter why in America we have a Camp David and why our presidents go there to find a little peace and quiet. This conversation with my daughter, got me thinking that Garmisch is my Camp David. A place for my family to get away from all the stresses of daily life.

Garmisch is heaven on earth for me. Garmisch is a small town situated between Munich, Germany and Innsbruck Austria. This tiny little town that sits at the base of the majestic Zugspitze and German Alps has so much to offer.  It speaks to me, natures beautiful serenity stands alone here and completely fills me up. Garmisch is truly magical in every season. I love to visit in the spring, when the mountains are a vivid green and the flowers are blooming. I love how in this region of Germany the buildings all have flower baskets overflowing with geraniums and petunias. Garmisch in the fall is also equally special, with the falling leaves and crisp air as it's backdrop.

This visit, my family and I were so blessed to visit Garmisch at Christmas time.  We arrived in Garmisch with it being completely covered in snow. I'm not generally a fan of snow.  I don't usually like how it hinders my plans, but I loved it so much during my holiday. We spent everyday in the snow hiking and snowshoeing. My favorite days were spent hiking around Lake Eibsee, traveling to the top of the Zugspitze mountain by a cog train and then taking a gondola down the steep face of the 9,000ft mountain. The snow and the landscape created a breathtaking backdrop for a week filled with memories I will treasure forever.

 On my most favorite day we traveled to the top of another mountain range by yet another gondola. Every time I step out into the beautiful mountains there I feel like Julie Andrews and I want to start singing, "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music".

There are many reasons why Garmisch is my favorite place besides its beautiful landscape. I love strolling through the little downtown area, and window shopping the lovely Bavarian shops. Each and every time we visit, we eat at the Kronner Konditorei, which has been around since 1759 and after a day of hiking or snowshoeing my family and I enjoy taking a rest there. Just like Garmisch itself, this delicate eatery is wonderful every season. When we visited this fall, we had the best pumpkin soup.  This visit we delighted in warm frothy milk served with 3 truffles to be added and lightly whipped to perfection. Wow!! Why have I never thought of such a drink before? 

The food at any of Garmisch's restaurants is also a real treat. Here in Bavaria they enjoy hearty meals. I guess that's what you might call "comfort food", food that reminds me of a simpler life. I love Garmisch because it allows me to be my simpler self. I am a girl who likes getting dressed everyday. I love clothes and put a lot of thought into packing my suitcase for a vacation. I pack lots of skirts and boots but every time I come for a visit here I find I packed way too many clothes. Garmisch doesn't allow you to be pretentious. The weather and outdoors demand your attention. I only needed to bring, a fleece, some snow pants and a pair of jeans.  Again, this is another way that this magical place quiets my mind and allows me to just be.

Every time I leave Garmisch I feel sadness as I look around at her landscape trying to take it all in. I quietly say to myself, "Till we meet again". Luckily, Garmisch is only a few hours from our home here in Germany. I will visit my Camp David again in the new year and it will renew me and give my family and I a chance to get away from it all. 

My Fairytale

My life is a fairytale. I guess all our lives are, if we choose to look at them that way. Living in Germany for me, is like living in a dream world. As I travel about, I can be taken back in time hundreds of years. Today was a great example of that. Our snow is all melted. I'm sure it will return very shortly but it was nice to have a day with none of the complications that snow so beautifully brings. Today I visited yet another Christmas Market here in Germany. We visited the town of Bad Wimpfen, which is a lovely small medieval town. Bad Wimpfen is very similar to many small German villages with a tower, part of a wall still surrounding it, beautiful churches and many lovely half timbered buildings. Many of these villages are up on a hill, overlooking the countryside and of course a river. Just like a fairytale, the location is for protection from any unwelcome visitors hundreds of years ago.  Bad Wimpfen's Weihnachts market was one of my favorites we have visited this year. The booths were spread along the tiny cobble stone streets. We also climbed the many wooden stairs to the top of the tower, which dated back to the early 1200's. How could this village be so old? This is so hard for me to understand, coming from a country that is so young in comparison. I loved my visit to this fairytale land.

My Dear Friend

Yesterday, I did something I've done almost every day of my adult life.  I put on my running shoes and stepped out for a quick loop through my neighborhood.  It is snowy here now and someone less determined as me might use that as an excuse to go outdoors.  Not I, no excuses in this girl when it comes to running.  As I was sloshing along, I passed a group of men in uniform and one looked at me and told me I was "An intrepid soul".  I quickly said thanks and then thought "What the heck does that mean?"  His statement got me thinking about my relationship with running.

Next to my husband, running is my closest friend.  We have been friends for quite some time now.  Fifteen years ago, being a young newlywed, and on my own for the first time I found myself developing poor eating habits.  I had never exercised a day in my life and never played any organized sports.  I was the girl that the P.E. teacher took great pleasure in embarrassing because I was so uncoordinated and non-athletic and deathly afraid of sweating.  The girl who was picked last, who hid from the ball and who would look for any type of excuse to get out of athletic activity.  I'm most definitely a girly girl in that regard.  In hindsight though, I wish I could change that about my youth.  If given the chance, I would have at least tried something.

I don't know what made me believe I could become a runner.  I think my husband's belief in me nudged me beyond my comfort zone. I first started by walking for a few minutes and then running for a few minutes.  I remember the awkwardness of my breathing, the rubbing of my thighs and my mind racing.  My continual self doubt telling me "You can't do this" and "I hate this".  Luckily, the change was almost immediate in my life.  I learned very quickly that running is a great exercise that burns a lot of calories enabling me to lose weight.  Of course I really liked that. I remember a close friend at the time would giggle and call me Forrest.  She would say, "Run Forrest, Run!" At this point I was hooked and obsessed with running.  For many years that was the reason that I ran each day.  But somewhere along the way, through all these many years of my little feet hitting the pavement I started to love it for entirely different reasons.  Somewhere along the way my mind quieted and I learned to use the time alone with my dear friend to better myself, to clear my mind and to heal so many old pains.

I am a neurotic person by birth and I seldom miss a run.  It is always the first priority of each day, time spent with my dear friend.  I have run on Thanksgiving, and on too many vacations to count.  I have seen many beautiful sights and scenery during my runs, some of my favorites being Washington D.C. and Alaska.  Back in the earlier years, I cared more about how fast and how far I could run.  I've learned now that my distance revolves around my mood.  The ebb and flow of me, and I could care less about my speed today.  For me, running is about so much more.  I've been so blessed to have never had an injury to halt my running.  Of course, I've had a hurt knee here and a tight calf there, but I've never missed a run because of injury.  I don't want to imagine a day where I can't run.  I guess I will walk, I can learn to like that almost as much.

Running has brought me so many special moments.  The time my husband and I have spent running together and the time spent running with my daughter, passing this gift on to her, are some of my favorite moments in life.  Giving her something that she can have as her own, to draw from whenever life requires it.  The gift of running is the thing I do for me. I don't want to look pretty or cute when I run. The older and uglier my running clothes are the better.  I don't want to go to a gym to run and I don't want to have to look at or talk to anyone when I run.  Instead, I treasure the time alone with my thoughts in my own head.

Years ago, I participated in a few races and it was nice to test myself against other athletes.  But I have no interest in races today.  For me, it is not about that. I'm not looking to prove anything to myself. I'm just enjoying this time to reflect on my life, to quiet my mind and to just be.  Maybe I'm a bit strange, the single intrepid soul sloshing through the snow when most everyone else is smart enough to stay inside where it is warm and dry.  I realize the amount of time I've spent running, and I guess it adds up to a large chunk of my life.  I love you my dear friend.  Thank you for giving me so much.

So what is the plan?

When I decided I wanted to write a blog, I imagined myself writing about frivolous things like the life of a celebrity, anything involving fashion or shopping. However, now as I start this endeavor I find myself only wanting to write about the truth. I hate to be a downer, but I recently became aware of of how poorly our American education system compares in the world. I was aware that our schools were lacking, and that the education obtained is extremely dictated by your zipcode and income. I was aware that there are overcrowded class sizes, and students that disrupt and make it difficult for their fellow students to learn.  However, I was floored when I heard the statistic that our children rank 23rd and 25th for Language and Math, out of the top 30 industrialized countries. Wow! That is bad! Bad and extremely embarrassing. So What is the Plan? Do we have one? Or, are we just going to go on our merry way acting like the important things in life revolve around what certain "celebrities" are or aren't doing and the shopping that I mentioned previously. After hearing these statistics, I found myself analyzing all the ways this will poorly affect our country in the future. How it will affect our already bad economy, our lack of good jobs, and our relationship with other countries in the world.

What is the plan? For some time now, I have realized we are playing checkers instead of chess.  Checkers requires little forward thought and anyone can play it, whereas chess is difficult to learn and each move must be calculated/planned against future actions. We are always so worried about socializing our children, being politically correct and making sure they have more than we had when we were young. But by doing that we really aren't giving them more, at least not more substance just more material things. That is not what we need more of. We need more substance, less options, less touchy feely ambiguous half solutions and more truth should be what we strive for. What are our children going to do for a living in the future? How are they going to compete against all the nations that have our picture on their mirror and everyday work a little harder and get one step closer to beating us? I hope we realize that this is the goal for many other countries in the world. I know this looming future for our children is a huge undertaking, something that can't be fixed overnight. However, we can't fix any of our problems if we aren't honest with ourselves. See ourselves clearly in the mirror, be honest about what we see, make some goals, be willing to change and work towards a better tomorrow.

Our priorities must change. I want my children to have a better future. I want them to have more than me; after all that is a central part of the American dream. However, I want it to be in measurable qualities, things that will make them stronger, smarter and evolved for what must be a new future. When I started homeschooling my children it was out of necessity. I am not some religious zealot who had a master plan to keep my children home and read them bible verses all day. Homeschooling was never a thought out plan for me but became a perfect fit for my family by accident. I realized that once your children are home and not following someone else's path they become a little different than their public school friends, and their road follows a different path as well. I see clearly now, that by my children being home they are able to be themselves, whatever that may be. Not pressured into following what the media deems to be important, not dumbing themselves down to win friends. My daughter can like the guitar, music, art and whatever she chooses to like. Then she has the time to master all the things that she is interested in outside of the judgement of her peers; the things that make her who she will become as an individual. When do American children in the public school system have the time to master anything?

I definitely don't have all the answers. By no means am I declaring homeschooling as the answer. I attended public school in my little California town, and a good education was provided to me. However, something changed in the time since I've been to school and now. We really need to open our eyes to this crisis and do better. I hope to see a movement, a plan/way ahead for our children's future.  We need to stop looking for someone else to fix this problem. We are always looking to big brother to fix all of our problems. Together we must honestly come up with real answers for the challenges that our schools and children are facing. We can still want more for our children than we had, but it has to be based on different qualities. We must evolve as a country to remain competitive in the future.  Other countries are training for a new tomorrow; I hope our children are ready when the time comes. God Bless us.

Elizabeth Edwards Rest in Peace

     Tuesday morning I woke up and did my normal morning routine, started my coffee and checked the internet. The first story to catch my attention was the deteriorating health of Elizabeth Edwards. I was so saddened to hear that her cancer was worsening and treatment was exhausted. I found myself thinking of her all day. Realizing that I was thinking about so much more than Elizabeth and her battle with cancer. I was thinking about her public story. Married to Ken doll, a life in politics and all the sadness of the story that followed, unfortunately she experienced this all publicly and we all know it too well. At first I admired their relationship, this smart women and smart man of the same age with a lasting relationship based on love. As a woman, we want to believe in the fairy tale.

     As an aging woman who knows beauty is fleeting, I want to believe that love is based on so much more than physical qualities. When John Edwards publicly wronged his wife, I felt it affect my pain body. When I would watch the coverage, I felt my mood worsening and realized I was internalizing her pain. I guess this is part of being a woman.  Elizabeth seemed to embrace her future honestly and seemed to fight whole-heartedly for the life she had left.

     On a very different front, I realized I was reflecting on Elizabeth's battle because of my own father's history with cancer. My father who has battled cancer on four seperate occasions. Who has battled for all of my adult life, yet still battles with more courage than seems humanly possible. As I thought about Elizabeth, I realized I was dealing with death in general. As Elizabeth stated,"The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered". The realization that life is a gift, not earned or owed. Like Elizabeth, I have two small children. I found myself thinking about having to leave them too soon, every parents worst dream. So this is how I spent my Tuesday morning.

     When I woke up Wednesday morning I repeated my daily routine of coffee and internet. The first news across my screen was the death of Elizabeth Edwards.  My saddness and contemplating/reflecting will continue I imagine. I didn't know Elizabeth any more than what the media portrayed. I don't know if she was a nice person or a good wife. However, I know she was a woman, a mother, and a wife. I know that she was battling a disease that looms at all times in my heart.  In life Elizabeth poignantly stated,"I do not intend to tiptoe through life only to arrive safely at death". Thank you for living courageously and being an example for us to live the gift of life to its fullest.  Rest in Peace Elizabeth.

Christmas in Europe

     It is almost Christmas and I find myself reflecting on so many wonderful Christmas' past. This will be my fourth Christmas living in Germany. I so love Christmas time here! The Christmas markets alone can get you in the spirit. I am an American girl tried and true, but I love the traditions passed on in other cultures during the holiday season. I find beauty in so many things about the holidays here. I love the special Christmas baked goods displayed in all the bakeries. The smell of fresh roasted almonds, marzipan and chocolate covered gingerbread alone makes me feel like a little girl again. The beautiful evergreen wreaths for sale to celebrate the tradition of the advent smell so fresh, I hate myself for having an artificial tree. Precious handmade ornaments, made to be cherished as keepsakes. Of course there are also warm crepes at every corner too!

     In America our tradition revolves around black Friday and putting up as many decorations as humanly possible. Rushing around keeping up with our neighbors. Christmas here in Europe is so much simpler, yet so much more. Less is more? It isn't so much about reindeer on the lawn and the newest high tech gift as it is about the advent and nature making her change once again to Winter. As I spend my weekends shopping the markets that are filled with handmade gifts, I think about how many gifts now a days are purchased online, at some type of super center and manufactured in China. I can see how much of the true meaning of gift giving is lost through this process.

     I also notice how each year the Christmas markets here pretty much stay the same. If everything is pretty much the same year after year, they must not be following our American model of buy, buy and buy. I know it isn't the way of a capitalist country, but I wish we as Americans could adopt some of these traditions. I am so thrilled my children are experiencing this gift. I hope to do better when I go back to my country.

     I know I am just as guilty of excessive buying as much as anyone else. The girl known as "The Box Lady", because I receive so many of the online purchases that I am railing against dare not judge when it comes to excessive buying. My next post might very well be about the next big sale at Neiman Marcus, but for now I'm calling myself out. Putting myself in check, while reflecting on the gifts of Christmas and realizing it is not about what is under the tree as much as it is about who is sitting around it.