I'm sitting in a dark hotel room letting Sophia sleep a little longer because she stayed up four hours past her bedtime last night because we had more work we wanted to get done on the house before we called it a day. We own our house this time so we have maintenance things to take care of in addition to the dreaded big cleaning before we can move. Kenny has to touch up some painting and replace the plastic bin that the washer sits in. I'm going to finish staining the deck. But, before all of that, I'm taking some time to reflect on our not quite one year here.
Kenny returned from Iraq about this time last year. We were happy to come to Charlottesville for him to attend the grad course. It is kind of a laid back year that affords lots of family time. We did lots of growing here. We purchased our first home, which is a huge learning experience. Sophie went from speaking to three people in this world to speaking to most family members, friends, and even some strangers. Now, she is a little slow to warm up, but functional. She went from being scared to ride her bike with training wheels around the sloped cul de sac to riding recklessly with no training wheels. She went from being afraid to put her face in the water in the pool to swimming the whole length of the pool by herself.
We were fortunate to make good friends here and are sorry to leave them. But, if we have to leave, we're happy to leave to Germany. We will have to adjust to Kenny working full days again but we look forward to the many adventures we're sure to have.
Now I have to decide whether to let Sophie be dirty or let her sleep longer. Maybe it's better to let her sleep. Tomorrow we're spending the night on the airplane.
