Hello friends,
Does anyone remember when I used to blog? I often wonder how I ever found the time!
As someone who likes to speak in bullet points for a living (LOL), I thought I would share a list of highlights from our 22 months in Virginia.
- We moved in June and hosted a party for 100 two weeks later. It was a work BBQ and pool party for Bill’s office - a celebration of the corporate relocation and move for most families.
- Andrew came to visit right after we moved in and we spent a week exploring our new surroundings.
- Virginia is crazy hot and humid, with rain like I’ve never seen.
- My mother came to visit us in August. We saw The ABBA Experience on the lawn at Wolf Trap for her birthday. It was a lovely evening.
- We spent September in Switzerland, where our passports got lost in the courier service. The hotel we stayed at was so accommodating. I need to write this story in a separate post :)
- In the fall I started volunteering as a Chocolatier! Every Friday I made truffles and dipped all types of chocolates for a nonprofit.
- We hosted a few Chinese families and treated them to an American Thanksgiving, complete with touch football and games post dinner. I’m always amazed at the beauty of a meal when someone does not speak the local language. The conversation was a song in English and Mandarin/Shanghainese.
- We started to hear of a virus from our Chinese friends in January 2020. They were asking us to postpone our trip which was scheduled for February 5. I remember Bill saying that he wasn’t concerned with a virus. A week later we canceled our trip after thinking about the ‘what ifs”, and not wanting to be stuck in a foreign country.
In February of 2020, one week before lockdown, I started a book club through a women’s club I had joined. We met just one time and I’m happy to say we have met via Zoom ever since. It’s a lockdown blessing.
In March 2020 I drove from Virginia to NYC to pick up my mother after hearing the city was going to close the bridges, no one in, no one out. A two week visit turned into three months. Our country living, quiet life was too much for her to handle. Her departure was quick! We were planning the trip to NYC for the end of June but she had packed her bags and said she was ready to go home.
July was a blessing. We started socializing with a small group of friends - we are so grateful for them. Strangers before covid, our sanity until we moved. Bill also decided it was time to retire from Nestle in July. This set the ball rolling on our move back to Minnesota.
While all of this is happening, Andrew is stuck in California until October. Not allowed to leave his apartment, completes his training virtually, and prepares to move to Maryland. We played Yahtzee all the time, and Clue on Zoom during my mom's stay.
We wrapped up our time in Virginia with friendsgiving, getting time with Andrew, dinner parties, I learned to make sourdough and broke my arm in two places.
All in all, we look back on our time here with fondness. I'm grateful to have formed a few lifelong friendships and was gifted time with Bill, Andrew, and my mother.
