Chapter 6: Gearing up

I'm sitting outside on a bench by the Honda service department, waiting for the mechanics to finish servicing and inspecting Lawna's car. We will be bringing just one vehicle, and it needs to be up to German inspection standards to be admitted into the country. Hopefully, our Texas standards will be enough for them. It will receive a final inspection in Dallas before it is shipped.

Once we arrive, I'm hoping to get by with public transportation, which I hear is much better in Germany than here. I have heard conflicting reports about how necessary a car is in the Ramstein area. If I absolutely need a vehicle, hopefully I will be able to get by with a Vespa or a moped. I really don't want to have to mess with a car. They are expensive to maintain and basically a pain in the ass. I'm not a car person. My stepfather has already bought my Honda Fit, so that's out of the picture. I did like that little car, but all kinds of changes are coming fast, so I can't afford to be too sentimental. It's only a car.

Brian and I brought the dogs and the cat to the vet a couple of days ago. Both dogs are getting old, one with a heart murmur and periodontal disease and the other with arthritis. We're leaving Brian with a pair of senior citizens to care for, and Michael's young, healthy cat. It's a lot of responsibility, but they will keep him good company while we are away. When we were gone on the cruise, he told us that he missed us and that the house was kind of lonely. We will certainly miss him too, but it's not forever, and he'll have some good transitional experiences of responsibility to get him ready for when he really launches independently. In the meantime, he has another year of college to work on at UTSA. We'll be flying home for the graduation.

February 25 is our departure date, and we still have plenty to get accomplished. We're still deciding what to bring and what to leave behind. I keep changing my mind. We don't know how much space we'll have, so it is hard to gauge. The government is paying for the move, so we hate to leave anything behind that we can use, but we also don't want to lug over a bunch of stuff that we won't have room for. If it turns out we have plenty of space, then it will be on us to make any later shipments. We need to decide smartly.

Oh well, it's just stuff!

The car has checked out, except for a misaligned back tire which they are now fixing. The car should be good to go. Now we just have to get ourselves ready.

Auf Wiedersehen!