With our vacation now a certainty, it was time to let friends and family know about our plans. For sheer enthusiasm, I have to give a nod to an old friend, Olaf, who blurted out how much he is looking forward to giving me a hug. I didn’t hesitate to tell him how sweet that was. Before we signed off, Olaf sent me this, rather accurate, illustration of him working his newest hobby, which is growing weed.

Of our days in Europe, split between Germany and France, only six of will be given to friends and family, though their excitement to see us does leave me feeling slightly guilty that I’ve put these limitations on our time in Germany. If it were up to Caroline, she’d be fine staying in Germany for the duration, spending our vacation exclusively with everyone looking forward to us dropping in. It is my expectations of gathering new experiences and reawakening my photography skills that complicate the demands of where our attention is directed. Then there’s the matter of culinary encounters while on the road, which also factor into these decisions. The easy/not-so-easy fix would be to move back to Europe, but that idea is too large to address in a brief blog post that was supposed to honor Olaf.