Skip to main content

Going to Church in Bitburg

I was really happy when the only flight to Frankfurt-Hahn airport from Kerry Airport left on a Friday and returned on a Monday, because that meant we could visit our old ward in Bitburg!  As much as the first three years of my life there with a living hell (I won't even deign to type the name of the person who tortured me so), I still believe that Bitburg ward was the best ward I have ever lived in, and it was all because of the people.

There's something really wonderful about a military ward; same with the military schools.  Everyone understands that you don't have much time together, so no one wastes time getting to know each other.  You just dive in and form friendships as quickly as you can, because either you will be leaving within a couple of years, or your friends will be leaving even sooner.  Maybe that's the reason our dearest friends have come from that ward.

We walked in and it felt like nothing had changed.  In fact, the only things that have changed are the lights in the chapel, and the bathrooms (thank goodness!). The people still seemed just as friendly and accepting as when we were there, and no joke, I could imagine so many of my friends serving in their old callings and appearing just around the corner.  I wish I had a time machine and could go back to that happy time, and I wouldn't mind having my kids small again.  And in a stroke of luck, it was ward conference, so the talks and lessons were really terrific.  Visiting the ward and the building just made me homesick for living there again.

Ethan texted me and asked if the pews were the same as they used to be: "the thin brown pads with the yellow netting underneath."  Yep, Cheese, nothing has changed <3







Comments

  1. Thinking of the wonderful times we had in Bitburg Ward always makes me smile. I'm glad you got to go back!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Quest for Birkenstocks

One of the main reasons I go to Germany every couple of years is to restock my supply of Birkenstocks.  I started buying them when I lived there, and I basically can't live without them now.  It just about kills me when a pair runs its course and needs to be thrown away.  I think in my lifetime, I've thrown away only three pairs.  One that never was quite right (the straps were plastic and would cut into my skin after a long day), one pair that I wore gardening one too many times (the brown dirt stains wouldn't come out of the white leather), and the pair that I was wearing when I broke my ankle (they were an unfortunate casualty of broken ankle PTSD because those purple and blue paisleys go down as one of my favorite pairs of all time).  I only threw out the garden ones a couple of days before I left for Germany, because I knew I would be getting a new pair. The only store where I have ever bought my Birkenstocks is Hoffmann's in Speicher.  (Well okay, t...

Johannah's Bridal Shower

One of the only reasons to lament my daughter not living in Utah anymore? Sister Mecham.  When I think back to the absolutely classic, beautiful, elegant, heart-warming bridal shower she threw for Glo, I literally sit in awe.  Her talents and abilities are unmatched! Believe me, I was hoping anyone  would volunteer to throw Hannah a bridal shower.  Being only two weeks post-op, I knew it was going to be very difficult for me to stand up let alone host the thing.  I even asked several people about me throwing it, thinking they would tell me it wasn't  up to me, but do you know what they ALL said? Of course  I should host it. This is what we do, baby! So I took a deep breath and decided to do it the best I could do it, knowing that I would never equal what Becky Mecham could do. Since Hannah's wedding colors were Tigers colors, and since Hannah loves baseball, I figured a baseball-themed bridal shower would be perfect for her.  And she agreed! But l...

Saying goodbye to KitTen

Last week, we said goodbye to KitTen.  Sadly, it was way too early for him to die. When I worked at Interlochen during the summers, I knew a medical assistant who fostered animals before they were put up for adoption by the local humane society.  She got a Siamese-looking kitten after I had already left camp and posted a photo of him on FB.  I reached out immediately. Growing up with Siamese cats, I really do love them.  I love their personalities, especially how vocal they are.  I adopted KitKat back when we lived in Dayton, but in a strange turn of events, a girl who was cat-sitting him before we left for Germany wouldn't give him back.  Since then, we've had mostly tabbies (with the GRAND exception of Hootie), so I was excited to start an adventure with another Siamese. We were living in PA at the time, so Mark and Allison brought him out to us.  Because he was going to be MY cat, I was determined to give him THE most perfect name, but in the end, w...