Germany

A good friend of mine from high school recently moved to Germany with her gorgeous family. Knowing I was going from Croatia to Ireland with a week off in between I scheduled a little detour. Why not. It's on the way.

I can't tell you how good it was to have down time with a familiar face. It is amazing how many friends I have, people I love dearly, that I have not seen in years. I guess it is one of the unfortunate side effects of my overly nomadic lifestyle combined with knowing really cool people spread out around the world. But with the really good friends, it is just so easy to fall back into that comfortable place.

My friend Kate is beautiful and funny and an overall blast to be around. She has always been this way. In Germany, though, I was greeted by another side of Kate: she is a mommy now and a really good one to boot. It was incredible. To watch her with her son and husband it made me so proud.

Don't get me wrong, I can assure you that I made absolutely zero contribution to Kate's development into the strong, confident woman she now is. If anything I just stirred the pot a little along the way with some mischief.

Point is: I knew her well when we were really just kids, then I saw her when we were in college a couple times, met her (then boyfriend) Josh visiting home after college one night, and then once more, I saw her while traveling the US when she was living in Colorado (Josh, her now husband, was deployed at the time). And now I have seen her in Germany where she is embracing life, and looking some real world challenges right in the eye. I feel like I have gradually seen this growth in her and I am so impressed. She is still the same old Kate at the core, but even better.

It is hard to move to another country where you don't know anyone and you don't speak the language, but she and Josh are really making it happen for themselves. Not to mention, they managed to show me around Regensburg with casual grace and abounding generosity all while carting this little one around with us. It was truly my pleasure.

Kate- I don't know how you do it, but I hope we continue to have these rendezvous for many years to come. Don't ever change "you" and never ever ever stop laughing.

More photos