(insert Jimmy Fallon as SNL’s Joey Mack! Click here if you have NO IDEA what I’m talking about.)

Say what you want about Lufthansa, but we had a great 11.5hr flight from Germany to San Francisco! I think it was the bottomless Baileys, but what do I know? On the other hand, saying goodbye to Joe’s flowing locks before departure wasn’t quite as easy. I was smiling for this farewell pic, but inside my heart was crying.

Our sweet, sweet Liv was such a champ. She is truly a traveling Daddy’s girl. Now, crossing nine time zones was a different story. I have always thought that “jet lag” was a farce. Until now. Maybe it was because I found my first gray hair this month, or because I was exhausted from three years of non-stop “going”, or maybe it was because I drank too much coffee and Baileys at high altitude, but I have never struggled so hard to get my circadian rhythms back to normal.

The only person that struggled more than me was Joe. I knew we were in trouble when I smelled coffee at 3:30am accompanied by the productive sounds of stapling. Yes, stapling. When you can’t sleep and your papers are a mess…why not staple them?

It has been a crazy experience returning to a place we once knew. If you don’t think that the Earth is in crisis, spend a day driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles. There is no one doing Ice Bucket Challenges here!

The Golden State (no filters or color boosting here – CA really needs water!)

For every one thing that has been frustrating or saddening about realizing how much a city, state, or country has negatively changed while we were away, there was a refreshing surprise that reminded us how much we love California, being in the military, and just enjoying the good ol’ US of A.

Thankfully, garlic fries at Giant’s AT&T Park have NOT changed!

For example, I made an online reservation for Liv to return to the kennel we used during our first stint in CA. This is the response I received:

“Hi Trysta, Yay!!! Liv is coming back 🙂 I have missed her adorable face… I’m so excited to see her next week on the 14th. I saw her name and your last name and couldn’t believe it! Its been a long time since she has boarded with us.”

When I arrived, she even remembered our usual “order” of playtime, bath, and military discount. To top it off…Liv’s picture still hangs on the bulletin board! From SIX years ago! I mean, Liv is the cutest thing to happen to four-legged animals, but I never expected her to receive a love note and still be on the Wall of Fame at the kennel.

People keep asking me if I miss Germany. My response: not yet. Ironically, that is the same answer I used 3.5yrs ago when people asked me if I spoke German. Someday, I will. Probably when Joe is two months into a five month deployment and all I really want to do is sit at Feierling with him in the middle of the afternoon and enjoy an Inselhopf and plate of Obazda.

For now, I love being here. For now, our three years in Europe has gifted me with rose-colored glasses, through which my homeland looks wonderful!

Only in America…

It is that awkward time again. The time I like to call “PCS-limbo”. Physically, you are “here”: packing up, closing accounts, saying goodbye to friends. Mentally and emotionally, you are “there”: securing a new home, preparing for different job responsibilities, making appointments. In reality, you are neither here nor there, while being simultaneously here and there.

Sometimes PCS-limbo is exciting: Do you think Chipotle tastes just as heavenly as it did three years ago? Only two weeks and we’ll be at GM & GP’s house! Sometimes PCS-limbo is confusing: Why am I crying right now? Why am I NOT crying right now? Regardless, PCS-limbo is always a time of simultaneous reflection and anticipation: What lessons am I going to ‘take away’ from where I am? How are those lessons going to change who I am at our new destination?

During this episode of PCS-limbo, the concurrent nostalgia and excitement are particularly strong. That being said, I would like to present what we (mostly I!) will miss most about our “Olmsted life”, but what we also can’t wait to get back to in our “real life”:

What we are going to miss about Germany/Europe:

• 10. Stepping into a crosswalk, in the middle of heavy traffic, knowing with confidence that every single car will stop and that I will actually survive the experience.
• 9. The German’s love of fresh, clean air. It took me a few years, but I get it now. Certain parts of this country just smell different…and sooo amazing!
• 8. “Doch!!”, “Quatsch”, “Stimmt”,“genau”,“oder?”…all my favorite German single-words that are so filled with emotion. I am still going to use them…with aplomb!
• 7. No mosquitoes, ever. Southern Germany is the best place in the world to spend summer nights…DEET free!
• 6. German Gemütlichkeit. Nothing beats a “Zum Wohl” or “Guten Apetit” from across the table…or across the restaurant!
• 5. Using “the” before everyone’s names in German. I have been “die (the) Trysta” for so long, that returning to just “Trysta” is going to be downright boring.
• 4. Inselhof & obadza from Feierling.
• 3. Our friends. We have met some really great people in the last three years. Sadly, we don’t know when or where we will see them again.
• 2. Spending so much time with my husband and best friend in the world. He is the only one that laughs at my poorly-timed and often misquoted TV & movie lines.
• 1. Going to sleep every night knowing that I won’t wake up in the middle of the night to a phone call that starts with, “Sorry to wake you ma’am. Is Major Wall available?” Nothing good ever comes from those calls.

Thanks to being World Cup Champions, there are German flags everywhere. A rare, but welcome sight.

What we are looking forward to in the United States:

• 10. Getting my personal space back. You are not going to get to the front of the line any faster by pressuring me with that beer belly and horrid breath.
• 9. The quarter. Practical, patriotic, historic. It’s just an amazing piece of coinage.
• 8. Wearing gym shoes and not being stared at or feeling like I am wearing huge signs on my feet that say, “LOOK AT ME!! I’M NOT EUROPEAN”!
• 7. Not having to plan for months in order to obtain an American product, and then wait for months to actually have it.
• 6. Eating a meal without taking 50 pictures of it first. Without realizing it, I’ve become a bit of a foodographer.
• 5. “Unbegrenzt” access to Jimmy Fallon. We have so much late night catching up to do!
• 4. Being able to hold an important conversation without rehearsing it in my head for hours before it occurs, or replaying it (and discovering so many errors!) for hours afterwards.
• 3. Unlimited tap water on the table at restaurants. With ice! For free!
• 2. Real Mexican food. Preferably made by real Mexicans.
• 1. Family. Some of them will still be 2,984 miles away, but it feels so much closer because they are going to be in the same country…and continent as us.

US Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Monument), Washington DC, October 2010