five years

After a wonderful couple of months, our summer in Santa Fe is finally winding down. Brenda's last performance of La Traviata is on Thursday, and we will be hitting the road the following day. This time next week I will have just finished my first Family Law class in Iowa, while Brenda will likely be getting into her pajamas in Frankfurt. We've been able to enjoy over three uninterrupted months together this summer, for which we are very thankful. And as much as I'd love to follow Brenda back to Germany, I need to wrap up this law school business which means we're going to have to spend some more time apart. The longest time we'll have to be apart for the foreseeable future begins as soon as we leave Santa Fe. Brenda's first thing in Frankfurt is a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos. New productions rehearse for six weeks, so Brenda will be needed in Frankfurt until her show opens in October. I will be flying to Germany in October to see the opening performance.

Six weeks apart obviously isn't ideal, but after all of the time we've spent apart over the years, we've become pretty good at the long-distance thing. And once this six week period is over, we'll get to see a lot more of each other. Brenda will be back in the US for almost all of November and half of December, and then I'll be heading to Germany for Christmas. Also, I'm very happy to report that I was accepted into the University of Iowa's study abroad program in London for the spring semester. There are a bunch of direct flights from London to Frankfurt, so we expect to see each other a lot in the spring.

Let's switch gears from the future tense to the past tense and talk about our previous week in Santa Fe. As you know from Drew's wonderful post last week, we've been having a great time with our guests lately. Last week Drew, Brenda and I did quite a bit of hiking. One day we took Drew on an intense hike near our house, which allowed Drew to show us what being in really good shape looks like (why wasn't Drew gasping for breath like I was?). Another day we went up to Abiquiu Lake, which is an hour or so north of Santa Fe. Drew and Brenda planned on doing some swimming but an overcast sky made the water unbearably cold. The clouds eventually cleared in time for us to enjoy a sunny hike.

 We're all smiling because we survived the steep hike to the top of the trail. It was touch and go for a while there.

Abiquiu Lake

Bettina arrived late Thursday night after spending two days driving from Minneapolis. The following day she and Drew went to Brenda's performance, which I also attended (don't ask how many times I've seen her show). We were all especially excited to be at that performance because there was a famous guest in the audience. I was able to snap a picture as she walked in front of my seat before the performance. Can you guess who it is?

 Here's a big hint: she's on the supreme court.

On Saturday Drew and Bettina left for Taos, and Brenda and I have been alone since. We've been trying to get through as much of our summer to-do list as possible before we head out of town. We were able to cross off one of the more fun items on the list a few days ago when we drove up to Santa Fe National Forest for a hike. Santa Fe is at an elevation of around 7000 feet, but where we hiked was between 10,000-12,000 feet. We enjoyed seeing a forest filled with aspen trees and gorgeous views of Santa Fe.

Brenda enjoying the view. In case you're wondering, that tattoo on her shoulder is a fake tattoo that she wears for La Traviata. 

Before I say goodbye for the week, I wanted to point out something special about the date today. Exactly five years ago today Brenda and I boarded a plane in Chicago with two one-way tickets to Frankfurt, Germany. We arrived in Germany the following day and posted our very first blog entry. So much has happened to us since then, and you've all been kind enough to let us share it with you. We intend to keep writing posts until we run out of things to write about, and we hope that you continue to enjoy them.

Well, it's time to get back to our to-do list. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!