250

Happy anniversary, my love. We are still tucked into our European apartment, awaiting the end of this virus. We are safe and healthy for now, albeit just a little stir crazy from the isolation. You've been kind and supportive while I've been dealing with work stress while working from home. We've been smart about keeping our spirits up. Maybe it's our long-time introvert personalities coming to the rescue.

But we are doing as well as we can for now. And I'm grateful that, for all we are going through, we are here and together. I love you.

249

I wish this month was better. I wish I was better. We, like so many other people in homes and apartments around the world, are locked up as we all try to hide from the virus. We are now feet apart, each of us working remotely.  It's been a hard time all around, but at least we've been kind and patient with each other. Thank you for being supportive as I've been going through the recent turbulence. I don't think I would have made it this far without you and the cats. I don't deserve you, my love.

248

Happy monthly anniversary to my love. We are finding our footing, going out more and making our new home... well, our home. Living without cars. Living with daily shopping. Living in the pace of a city. Living in the slipstream of a dozen cultures and languages. Living with timezones and different languages. I know you think about where we came from now and then, but this place is becoming our haven. We are setting down roots, making out apartment our own. And for now we are happy here. We are grateful, we are warm, we are relaxed. Us, our cats, and our freedom.

247

Happy monthly anniversary, my love. The streets are becoming more familiar. Our new place is becoming more as if we always lived here. Thank you for being here with me. Thank you for helping me as I adjust to life and to work. I hope I always make you happy.

246

We are here. In the Old World. In Western Europe. Maybe our ancestors came through here, but likely not. Leisure travel wasn’t common for our family trees. 

A month of surprise, struggle, and success. A month where we got sick, where we got frustrated with local banking and getting our phones re-baptized to work on local ground. A month where I started a new job and where you continued your old one. New clothes, new foods. So much walking. So much exploring. Immigration forms and other paperwork to say we aren’t tourists. We belong here. We are residents. Not citizens, but good citizens. Grateful for the opportunity. Making a home a little every day. 

We just sent off our apartment application for a place that is just a couple blocks south of here. We want to stay in the neighborhood. Quiet, west of the chaotic city. A walk into the friction and a walk out. Near enough to see it but we away. The city on our terms.

In a week, it’ll be Christmas, our first without having to see anyone under the forced dictate of family obligations. It will be small for us, distant, maybe a little sad and desolate, but people will be coming to us in the new year. For now, this is our home, our tradition, our holiday. And if we are lucky, we will have gotten ourselves a place of our own for Christmas. 

Thank you for being there for me when all this was anxiety and illness and stress of a new job in a new country. I love you.