Last Friday, our friends from Grand Rapids, the Staggs family, flew back to the U.S.  They lived across town here in Utrecht for the last three months.  This Thanksgiving day (which isn’t celebrated here at all of course), I’m giving thanks for our chance to share this experience with those who have come to visit for a short stay and with the Staggs for all of the autumn.  Sharing the adventure makes me smile.  The Staggs were simply wonderful friends to us.  I’m thankful for the wonderful Monday night meals they cooked while Margaret had gymnastics class in their neighborhood; for the double date dinners curtesy of their thirteen-year-old daughter who is mature enough to babysit; for croissants for breakfast with Becky; and for biking with Brian to the university library to study for a few hours. 

Yes, it’s true that we may find another babysitter.  It’s true that multiple neighbors have offered to keep a baby-monitor at their row house while Steve and I go down to the corner for a glass of wine in the evenings after the girls are asleep.  But we will miss our friends.     

I’m thankful that they will be back for another three months in the spring.