Part 6: A Love Story...A Beginning

The night was ending quickly. He wrote his number on a slip of paper taken from a First Ave event calendar sitting on the table in front of them. She did the same. Numbers exchanged, a date obtained, and now the painful ritual of saying goodbye yet again. The evening was a blur of happiness and little did they know 23 years later they'd be living in Berlin with two kids and a cat.

There will never be an ending to this story. It will go on and on long after Chris and I are floating in Heaven with God. Praise be his name.

As Chris and I reflect as we do every year on how we met (and our lives together up to this point) we consider ourselves so lucky to have found each other. I knew from our first date that I would love this man forever. It took awhile to get it all worked out in our hearts but on July 30, 1994 we said our vows and made our relationship a lasting bond that would live on for eternity. How cool is that?!

Thanks to all our friends and family for enduring my day long reminiscing here in my blog and on Facebook. It was a pleasure to write and I hope a pleasure to read.

Thanks for all the well wishes and the "side" story by my friend Paul Jones. Paul I can't wait to read the next installment.

Peace and Love to all!

Part 5: A Love Story...The Conversation

The guy in the black beret asked the black-eyed girl if she wanted a drink. She immediately accepted his invitation and they climbed the balcony steps to the bar. Drinks were poured, sips were taken and they scanned the area for a cozy place to talk. Hours had gone by effortlessly. Soulmates had been found. But could a date be secured before the night was over?

Part 4: A Love Story...The Meeting

A young man dressed in black with a matching beret upon his head dances to the beat of The Suburbs song "Love is the Law". A hand taps him on the back and as he turns around he stares into the eyes of the woman he longed for only just a few weeks ago. She was back and smiling at him. "David?", she said. "No, it's Chris", he responded. "Remember me?", she said. How could he forget?

Part 3: A Love Story...The Introduction

"I'm sorry," said the young woman, "but I can't. My ride is leaving." The suitor said, "How about next weekend?" The young woman explained that she was going on vacation with her family, but she would be back and would look for him. They said their goodbyes and the young man watched as his bride left. Would he ever see her again? He hoped he would.

Part 2: A Love Story....The Introduction

The black-eyed girl was startled by her suitor's approach. Little did she know that he had stalked her all night. Watching in the shadows, wanting desparately to ask her to dance but scared she might say no. Now standing before her he quickly said hello and introduced himself. He commented on the fact that she was leaving and asked if she might have time for a dance....

A Love Story...The Introduction

Below is from Facebook...Follow along on Jennifer Hays' Facebook page or get it here on my blog.

The Love Story begins......

Happy Anniversary starts at midnight tonight!!! Fifteen years of marriage ain't bad! However the story doesn't start there.....Let's go back to March of 1986 First Avenue Dancerteria (is that really a word???). A young man of 24 introduces himself to his future bride of only 19. As the young woman prepares to leave the establishment via the coat check area, the straping young hunk jumps out of the darkness...

Want more? Well you're gonna get more whether you want to or not. Stay tuned as our hero tries to make contact with his beloved. What will happen next???

New Apartment

Chris, Logan, Connor, Tom the cat and I are moving come October 1st to a new apartment here in Friedenau. It's only about 4-5 blocks away from our current place. We looked at a number of different places here in Friedenau and in Licterfelde (which is not far from Friedenau). Chris took some pictures of our new apartment at http://www.macgowan.com/PhotoIndex.php. Click on Berlin, Germany, July 2009 (Apartment: Wielandstrasse 13). Our new address as of October 1st will be Wielandstr. 12 (it's not 13 as noted above in the link) 12159 Berlin Germany. We hope we don't have to change our phone number but if we get a new one we'll let everyone know.

Our new place is larger and cheaper and we are excited to have a yard again. We did give up having a balcony but we can live without it.

The owners of our new place will renovate it as the folks that lived there before had lived there for 9 years. Don't get me wrong the place is in great condition but needs some sprucing up. We also get a new kitchen and bathroom including a shower. We are so excited to take a shower again as we haven't had the luxury in over a year. I don't mind a good soak once in a while but overall not a bath person.

Well as it gets closer to the move we'll post pictures of the building, yard, apartment, etc.

One Year!

As of July 4th we were officially here in Berlin for a year. It went very very fast.

Logan finished 3rd grade after a challenging but successful year. He made lots of new friends and got hooked into Pokemon. He loves to trade his cards and play the game. Not to mention watch the animated series. Anyone out there want to trade with him? Let us know. Logan will go back to the JFK School for 4th grade on August 24th. We hope to take a little holiday before he goes back. Logan really wants to see some castles and ride on a ICE (fast) train. Not sure we can accommodate the train ride but there are lots of smaller castles not to far from Berlin. This might be more within our budget. We really wanted to go South and see the big castles but maybe another time.

Connor finished Montessori and music class for the year and made lots of new friends. He's mastering walking and running. He loves to chase Tom all over the house. He's crazy about balls and loves to throw and catch them. Connor says lots of words which include both English and German. His favorite word to date is NO. ha ha Connor will go to Kindergarten in the fall. We are very excited for him and he loves hanging out with kids around his own age or older. He'll probably go for 1/2 days every day. We've checked out a few places and all seem great. We have appointments mid-August to meet teachers and get tours.

Tom is doing better but at times misses his brother Ted who died a couple of months. His favorite thing besides eating fishy is to sit on my bedroom window sill and look outside at all the people, cars and birds that go by.

Chris continues to look for work. He has some new leads on jobs and is trying to take advantage of the contacts he's made here. Hopefully after summer break he'll get a break and get a job. He does have a film job this coming week as a boom on a short film. It doesn't pay much but could open some doors for him, and of course it looks good on a resume. Chris also has been doing a number of late night bike rides throughout the city. He really enjoys it.

I'm doing well. I was having some issues with my thyroid that I hope are resolved. I'm now back on my regular dosage of medication. It was tough being tired all the time.

I'll continue my German language studies this fall. I'm excited to get back to class. I haven't had much time to study but I do my best to speak German when I can.

My Mom sent me a book called The Shack and it was really great. She just sent me Run by Ann Patchett and am looking forward to reading this book too. I saw the latest Harry Potter movie (it was okay) and now am curious about how it all ends, so I may have to pick up the last Harry Potter book and read it.