“History flows forward on rivers of beer”

Everything that I could have possibly associated with Bavaria came to life last night (although, there were no dirndles). Lucia arrived in Germany safe and sound, and after a nice lunch with her father, sister and brother, we began to welcome the 'evening' guests. Lucia's aunts, cousins and several friends arrived and we were treated to weiswurtzel (white sausage), a good supply of beer, singing, magic tricks and lots of laughter!
The party lasted well into the evening, followed by some schnapps as a finale (perhaps not the best choice) and a well deserved sleep.
It was so nice to spend some time with people that really mean a lot to Lucia, and to begin to understand exactly where she's from. This I can say for certain, she comes from a long line of people who have warm hearts, and understanding eyes.

This afternoon we had a lovely sunshine - filled bike ride to a lake about 40 minutes away. Lucia, Simone and I swam, napped, read and enjoyed each other's company.
The more time I spent with Lucia and Simone (her best friend), the value of such friendships became more and more evident. It's funny that so often, in our conquests to find ourselves, we leave the people who know who we really are. Although, it seems necessary to find new relationships that offer similar levels of intimacy.
Friendship can be such a deeply rooted form of relationship, and I was able to see it in Simone and Lucia's eyes when they spoke to each other. It makes me truly appreciate all of the people that have come into my life, from many different places -but always at the right time, who know what I'm thinking before I do, who know what makes me laugh, what makes me cry, what will get me into trouble and what will keep me on the straight and narrow.

I imagine that we all have different definitions of friendship, and some of us save the words for special relationships. For me, I think that I can usually consider someone a friend when they know how to make me laugh, and I can to the same in return. And, as good fortune would have it, my life is filled with a great deal of laughter.

Auf Wiedersehen!