Happy 2013, friends and family!
Now that we're 2 days into the new year, how's it going for everyone so far? Kept your resolutions? Did you even make any? Us? Well, we're all kinds of screwed up...with our sleep, that is. I wrote an article for the squadron newsletter about how to beat jet lag during the holidays. Turns out, writing that article must have been the kiss of death, because D and I have been experiencing the worst jet lag of our lives since returning back to Germany 5 days ago. I'm talking inadvertently taking 6 hour naps, being wide awake at 3 am making pesto pasta and PB & J's, and falling asleep at the table in a public restaurant kind of jet lagged. Needless to say, it's been super fun awful here lately. That's why we decided to keep our New Year's Eve plans to a minimum and tried to enjoy the holiday alone from the comfort of our own living room. Interestingly enough, at 10pm that night, we got a second wind (probably because we napped from 9am to 1pm that day, on accident of course). We could have driven 20 miles to Frankfurt and got all up in the NYE craziness there, but that sounded miserable. Two jet lagged Americans trying to push their way through crowded bars and firework lined streets? No, thank you. Besides, we spent our last NYE in Frankfurt, so we wanted to try something a little different...even if it was a last minute plan. I remembered a tip a friend of ours mentioned to us just a few weeks after we moved to here in 2011. He told us that the best place to spend NYE was at the top of the hill in front of the Commissary (our on base grocery store, for all you non-military peeps). He said it offered amazing views of the city (which we already knew having frequented the Commissary practically every day since we moved here), and at midnight, Wiesbaden virtually explodes with fireworks.
Dear Lord was he right.
I realize the video I've posted is just over 3 and a half minutes long, but I recommend you watch it in its entirety to get a better feel for the awesomeness we experienced that night. The word awesome is hardly the right word to describe it, though. I simply can't find the words that perfectly embody the sights and sounds we witnessed atop that Commissary hill. It's like nothing I've ever seen before in my life. It's one thing to see a fireworks show at a baseball game or a concert, but seeing them across an entire city, lighting up every square inch of skyline with color...mind blowing! Truth is, I cried. Like a 3 year old. I welled up just reveling in how blessed we were to be able to see this kind of celebration. A celebration of new beginnings that rang through an entire city. An entire country. The world. I get chills each time I replay it in my mind. Watch below and see for yourself. Although this video hardly does it justice.
{Please ignore all the silly things I said in this video. And definitely ignore the crying. Definitely.}
10 minutes after midnight, the fireworks were still going strong!
After braving the cold and enjoying the most spectacular fireworks display we'd both ever witnessed, we made our way back to our flat to sip some champagne and dig into a NYE cake I'd made that afternoon. On the drive home, we encountered dozens of people shooting off firecrackers in the streets, and a few dingbats throwing poppers at our car. NYE is seriously crazy around here. Happy to be home again, we popped our champagne on the balcony and listened as the fireworks continued crackling in the distance (our neighborhood had finally calmed down). We also continued our tradition of saving the champagne cork and inscribing it with the year it was popped. We've got every New Year's Eve cork from the year we were married until now. Although, we are missing the one from the year D was deployed. The missing cork is a quiet reminder of all we went through that year, so its absence really isn't an absence at all.
As for resolutions, we didn't make many. It seems like with the birth of each new year, we bog ourselves down with lofty goals and aspirations, but as soon as the sparkle of the holiday wears off, we forget the promises we made ourselves and fall off the wagon of change, so to speak. This year, we took the pressure off and resolved to just be happy. Be happy and enjoy the brief life God's given us in this beautiful country. Be happy and count our blessings everyday and remember to thank the one who divinely placed them. Be happy and be good to our bodies, nurture the marriage we have, and give to those who have not. That's our resolution this year. My challenge to you, dear friends, is to do the same. Don't let another day go by without joy. Cheers to simply being happy in 2013!
