Month: April 2014
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Don’t play with our hearts
“Don’t play with my heart” said Oana as we shared that we plan to move to Cluj on a permanent basis. Rebe and a few others were under the impression that our trip this Spring was the actual long term move. But we are more plan-full than that. My parents never questioned my decisions which…
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Garage Sale
We’ve tackled a lot of large and difficult decisions in the last few months: Deciding to pursue adoption, deciding to spend all of our money on an apartment half a world away, leaving that apartment less than two weeks after purchasing it and leaving much of the work to be done sans us. As the…
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Putting my dreams on the line – part two
We traveled for twenty-five hours from Cluj to San Francisco. To be fair, we did have a lovely day trip through Munich on the way back. Ten hours after we arrived, the next morning we both went to work. Jet lag allowed for surprising energy in the morning but sickening body ache in the afternoon.…
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Our Real Vacation
Though it only lasted three hours, our short stint in Munich during a layover on the way back to the States was sweet and relaxing. We arrived at Marienplatz just as the shops were opening and there were few people. The air was brisk, but we warmed up walking to the coffee shop, and then…
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Last day picture montage
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” —Margaret Thatcher We’re sad to be leaving, but we’ve gotten so much done in the past two weeks that we feel we’ll be comfortable on our next return home. We agree that this trip was best spent running around and preparing the…
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Second–to–Last
It is now the last day here. We have only minimal obligations—thankfully—due to our diligent–but–hectic schedule. Vio has one appointment and I need to pick up a few things for the return (along with cleaning the apartment), but otherwise, today should be relatively relaxed. Yesterday however, was nuts. It was the only day that we…
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Live in the present
Girls night at my new place, talking life, eating goodies, laughing and reconnecting. I feel honored and blessed to have these Ezer women as my friends. Time and space altered not our friendship. We are in such different places in life, and yet our uniqueness and beauty is enhanced by it. Divorce, widowhood, cancer, childlessness,…
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Reflections
As this trip nears its inevitable end, I can’t help but dwell on the things that didn’t happen. We didn’t make much personal progress on the adoption process, we never had time to even visit an orphanage; the kitchen isn’t finished, we didn’t really relax, etc. But as I reflect on these things, I realize…
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Four more days
After chasing appointment after appointment this past week, the weekend finally arrived. It is odd to be on vacation and yet long for the Saturday. We had a lovely game night with my parents, and slept in. This morning we took the bus into town and now we are having coffee with Claudiu, conversing about…
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Knocking at doors
We visited the child protection office. A huge building with imposing architecture, with huge heavy doors and old hallways. My stomach in a knot, and no one in sight. We finally knocked and opened a side door. I told the lady that we are interested in talking to someone about adoption. The surprised look on…
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Old friends
Despite all of the new friends we are making (even the human ones), our old friends are what really make this city home. We are eternally indebted to them for welcoming us into this crazy chapter and making themselves available to us while we scamper about, trying to set things up. Vio’s brother, Dan, has…