The German Baltic Sea - A family weekend
As I already mentioned, I’m not only saying my good byes to my coworkers and employees but also and more importantly to friends and family. This is why I used the chance to spend an entire weekend with my mother and my grandparents at the German Baltic Sea. We stayed in Kühlungsborn but also visited Rerik and Nienhagen. The last time I spend that much time close with my grandparents was decades ago still as a child and thus I was really excited about it. As mentioned, I’m going to spend around a year in Canada with no plans what to do afterwards.
My grandparents as lovely as they are, are not as fit as they used to be. Often on this trip they walked with us a bit, paused at a bench and my mom and I walked a bit further so we had some deep talks on our own. I really value her opinion and how she raised me and my sister as a single mom with not a lot of money. There were times where I wasn’t as grateful for my family as I am right now. They are loud, very direct, sarcastic, almost no secret is safe between them but at the same time I never saw a family that values the diversity of their members and honors everyone of them with so much love and caring as they do. My grandparents are the heart of this family and keep us together. My mom was the first to live abroad for a couple of years with her two daughters. While I was very sad to leave my dad, my grandparents and my friends behind I learned a lot during my almost six years on Lanzarote, Spain. There were times where I denied having similarities with my mom, but nowadays I have to admit that I am very much like her on many levels and proud to be that way. She showed me that living your dream is important and always supports me no matter what I have in mind. She might be part of the reasons why I took this bold step, as others tell me, to quit my safe career and set out into a fresh start in Canada. She managed to live in Spain as a single mom with two girls for almost six years, so why wouldn't I manage it without kids and the advantage of already speaking the language beforehand. Other learnings I took from her and my family are to be honest, humble, value the small things in life and thus being happy without materialistic possessions, accepting diversity in every form and most importantly loving a person for who he is and not wanting to change them. Is not always easy to follow those values, but I try my very best. Of course, my family would love to see me settling down, not only in my work life but also in love and our good old Berlin, because this would keep me close and save them from worrying about my financial and personal security. But they know that it would only drag me away from them if they wouldn’t support my dreams, so they let me leave.
But before that takes places my grandparents, my mom and I enjoyed this weekend together. It was wonderful and as I drove home after bringing my grandparents home for the first time since I took the decision to leave Germany for now, I really got sentimental. I love my family and at the same time I sacrifice not seeing them for a longer time to follow my dream. My thoughts are with them and I’m hoping deep within, that especially my grandparents stay healthy and that I’m going to be able to be reunited with them in round about a year when I’m home for a visit. My grandfather is not the fittest anymore and I don’t know how long he will stay with us, it might be only a couple of month or years or if he comes after his mom it might even be over a decade, because my great grandma turned over 90. It’s a selfish thought, but I’d love to have them by my side for as long as possible. Same goes for my mom and the rest of my family of course! It’s weird to say goodbye if you don’t know what follows neither for me nor for them but I’m positive to embrace them soon enough. But enough with the sentimental thoughts… This weekend was great and therefore here you have some pictures of this lovely family trip on the coast. If you want to see more about the German Baltic Sea, I did another blog in the past about some different areas up north.
Kühlungsborn
Sunset walk with my beloved mum =)
Rerik
My grandfather wasn't in the mood for a picture, but at least my mom and grandma were :)
Lighthouse Buk
Nienhagen - Ghost Forest
The initials of my grandparents <3
I'm still going to see some friends and family, but already said good bye to a few and I have to admit, I thought it's going to be easier... I'm really thankful for all of their support!