I miss her...

Photo by Walker Pickering

I know I've shown y'all a picture of her before and even talked a little bit about her, but today I'm just going to share some of the wonderful memories I have with this sweet girl and some of the things I miss. And Anna, if you are reading this, please don't be embarrassed;)

When Anna first got here I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I mean no idea. All I knew is that the moment I saw super blonde hair, jacket, and scarf (it was the end of August and we were in the middle of our heat wave) coming down the stairs at the airport, she was going to be in for the shock of her life and Elias and I were going to have to walk her through it. And we didn't even have to leave the airport for her to see that. As soon as we got outside I turned to look at her and her eyes were wide and she said "woo, it's hot!" I turned around and smiled to myself. I knew this was going to be a fun 5 months.

There were so many things that were lost in translation. So many things. Over the course of her stay here I realized that she probably spoke better English than most of the people I know, myself included. I also realized that we, Americans/Texans, have a lot of phrases that we use that she probably never caught on to and probably never will. I learned that there is a big difference in the way we say Michael in the US and they say Michael in Germany. Big difference;) I learned that paprika is not just a spice you put on food for seasoning, it's an actual bell pepper in Germany. Too bad it took 5 months to figure that one out. Poor girl. So, in honor of her recent 18th birthday (I know I'm a week too late) I'm going to list the 18 things I miss the most about Anna. *These are in no particular order.*

1. The way she always ate her spaghetti with a spoon and a fork. You know, how they teach in etiquette class.

2. The way that she would wear Burnt Orange because she knew I liked it, even though she really didn't like it much. 

3. The way she would always go to the store with me, even if it was a quick trip.

4. The way she would always tell me good morning and good bye in the morning as she was on her way to school.

5. The way she would ask us what something meant and why we would say stuff the way we did if it just didn't make sense.

6. The fact that she would go with us to church and we never had to 'drag' her there.

7. The way she loved Colty and told all her friends about him.

8. The way she called Elias "Elia" or "Papa E", depending on her mood.

9. The way that, while she was definitely more girly than me, she wasn't too girly when it came time to clothes. Thus, making it easy for me to shop with her.

10. The way she genuinely loved her Vans. And was very deliberate in picking them out because she wanted to wear them back in Germany.

11. The fact that she went with me to the UT football games and attempted to learn about football, even though she hated it.

12. The way she loved our friends and family.

13. The talks we would have after Elias had gone to bed, about just stuff.

14. The cute way she would whine when it came to school. Whining is just so much cuter in German.

15. The way that she picked up on "y'all" so fast and still uses it in her everyday language.

16. The way that, just a month into her 5 month stay with us, she said at dinner "oh, I'm gonna miss queso!"

17. The fact that she took a Texas flag home with her, because she was in Texas, not the US;)

18. The fact that even though we were pretty lame, she still humored us and told us we were the best host parents ever and will still talk to us, 9 months after she has left.

It's really hard thinking of just 18 things that you love and trying to generalize them. For every one of those things I love, there are a hundred memories wrapped up inside of them that make me love it even more. I would love to tell y'all the difference between Michael in German and Michael in English, but I promise you that reading it will not do it justice. Next time you see me or talk to me, just ask me and I'll be glad to verbally tell you the story. It's one you'll definitely want to hear.

I miss her. I wish she was back here with us. I wish that Germany and Austin were right next to each other. I wish that our future kids would get the chance to live with such a cool, sweet girl. She is the best German kid I could have ever asked for. She taught me so much about life and love. A different kind of love. She taught me that I can love someone else's child and send them back home when the time comes. And though I'm not in their life everyday, there will always be the memories.

And now I'll leave you with some pictures of just a few of these memories.

Her first weekend here, at the Co-op. She had no idea what she was doing this for, but she did it, bc I did:)

From the beginning they had their bond!

Again, the first weekend...she had no idea why we liked that cow so much.

By this point she understood a little more of what to do.

She rode a good old fashioned carnival ride at the Wurstfest.

She hung out with these old folks...

She was getting the hang of it. Still didn't like it too much, but she did it.

Dancing on the Wii.

One of her last nights here.