41 Years Ago This Week

41 years ago this week, the Brugger family - along with my fiance' - Clyde, went to Denmark.  It was a memorable trip in many ways.  First of all: March and April is not the time to go to Denmark.  There were gale force winds blowing the whole time we were there.  It rained almost every day - actually sleet - and the temperatures never got out of the 20's or 30's.  Weather wise was not ideal.  To keep us quiet, Dad kept telling us we would not camp that night but find a hotel.  He never intended to do that because he didn't want to leave hundreds of dollars of camping equipment unattended while we were in a hotel.  We had seen other people take their tents down and a couple had blown away and one actually ripped in half as they tried to fold it.  If Dad had just explained this to us instead of telling us that  'this night will be better', it would have been better to take, I think.  Dad didn't confess that to me until just a few years ago!

However, I got my dream of seeing my favorite author's home and getting his collection of books.  Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved Hans Christian Andersen.  My mother had bought a little blue collection of books and I wanted the same collection going into my marriage.  I was thrilled to be able to do that.  I wanted to see the 'Little Mermaid' statue in the harbor in Copenhagen and see the original statue of Christ that Thorvaldsen created.  Those are the things I remembered.  I remember thinking that the people were extremely friendly and the even though the weather was awful, the towns were beautiful.  My sister, Marianne, once said that nothing could make that a pleasant trip.  I am sorry she feels that way.  Though the nights were horrendous, the day trips were wonderful and I guess that is what my selective memory has chosen to hang on too. 

I am overwhelmed with this calling.  I keep thinking it is going to sink in and be fine but so far it hasn't.  I still feel like I am floundering.  It isn't that I feel incapable - I guess I am still in shock.  I like to know everything - I really don't like surprises.  I like to be well prepared so that there aren't surprises.  This has all of the markings of too many surprises for quite a while.  I will not be in a comfortable spot for quite some time.