Memory Lane

Whether or not you want it to, time marches on. Even if you want things to stay the same, people change, circumstances change, and you can't recreate the memories of the past so it's best to accept it and move on with your life. After all, you can't go home again, right? As someone who has lived in twelve different places in my life I kind of agree with that sentiment. I've gone back before and things aren't the same and often are just plain disappointing. When Jared proposed this trip to Germany I was apprehensive for many reasons; one of the main reasons was the fact that I know it can be disheartening to go back and find that things have changed more than you'd like. Even though I know time marches on, in my head everyone and everything are in some sort of suspended animation just waiting for my return. It is best to keep your happy memories in your head and enjoy them there because it really won't be the same if you go back.

Even knowing all this, we moved forward with our plans for a visit to Germany and one of the main items on our agenda was to visit some of our favorite places and people. We woke up early our first full day here and headed to Herschberg, the village where we lived for five of our years in Germany. Our first stop was Leiningerstrasse 5 to see our old house. This house is, without a doubt, my most favorite house and the house I think our kids will remember when they're all grown and are thinking back on their childhood years. I'm pretty sure every other house we'll live in will be compared to our Herschberg house and the Herschberg one will probably win! Not much had changed and the things that had, a sidewalk was installed and the driveway had finally been repaired and straightened, were things we'd been bugging our landlord to take care of the entire time we'd lived there. We snagged a quick picture, felt a bit sad that our favorite neighbors weren't home, and made the quick drive to visit the Kindergarten where Natalie and Samantha spent many happy days playing and learning. 

Things were a little more different at the Kindergarten. We only knew two of the staff members anymore and of course all the kids were different, but it was still comfortingly familiar. The same coat racks where the girls hung up their coats and changed their shoes each day, the same nativity set that was set out in the main hallway each December, and the same little tables and chairs set out for breakfast and lunch. There were even pictures of Samantha and Natalie on the wall! Frau Keifer, one of the teachers who we still knew was happy to see the girls and so sweet to them. They were both apprehensive about visiting their old school because they were worried their German skills wouldn't be up to par, but in the end we were all glad that we stopped for a quick visit. 

That big sign over the door is new since we've left - another change!

Next stop on memory lane was another school, the elementary and middle school Madison, Emily, and Abigail attended when we lived here. Madison was here from fifth to eighth grades, Emily from third to eighth grades, and Abigail from first to sixth grades.  Landstuhl Elementary and Middle School was a big part of our life and where I gained a love for K-8 schools. Having all three of these girls together at one school was pretty awesome for them as sisters and for us as parents! Now that we have kids at three different schools it's easy to see the advantages of keeping them all together longer. The faculty and staff at LEMS are amazing and all of our girls were blessed to have such great teachers who not only taught but truly cared for them and were examples of kindness to our family. 

Mrs. Stolee-Kiefer was our neighbor, the girl's wonderful math teacher, and is an all around amazing person and friend

Ms. Merchat coached all three of these girls in volleyball, taught them health and PE all through middle school, and is a great friend to our family 

Our visit to LEMS ended up taking longer than we expected. Poor Jared ended up falling asleep in the car while he was waiting for us. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends and see that even though things have changed our love for the people we knew here has stayed the same.

The last "remember when" stop for the day was the Kaiserslautern Christmas Market. Because it was our local market, we went to the Kaiserslautern Market every year when we lived here. Usually we would park at the church and walk over to the market on the Schillerplatz. However, to get into the parking lot you need a key to open the gate and we don't have keys to the church building anymore. Luckily for us, the family history library was open and the workers there buzzed us in so we could park at the church and take a quick bathroom break. The church building was an unintended memory lane location. So many of our memories of our time in Germany involve our ward building and the good friends we made here.

Jared was excited to see that the wards in the building are still holding the annual creche exhibit and open
house that he spearheaded while we were here! It's a great event that brings the wards
and the community together to celebrate the birth of Christ.

So maybe you can't go home again, and everything changes, and all those other things people say, but it was such a sweet experience for our family to see so many people and places that were special to us while we lived here. Despite the things that have changed, we still love Germany and feel still feel at home in Deutschland. Our feelings were summed up pretty well the first morning of our trip when, after eating the most delicious clementine ever, I said, "Everything's better in Germany!" We're grateful for the adventures we've had as a family and the opportunities our military lifestyle has given us to make such wonderful memories to look back on together.