Emerging

Line out the door at the local bakery. Everyone
enjoying the sun

The sun came out in all its glory on the Sunday while Marty was gone.  It was seriously amazing.  It was bright and warm and lovely.  I decided to go for an hour walk to clear my mind and soak in the sunny goodness.  The kids had 30 minutes of reading and then 30 minutes of screen time while I was gone and we were all happy about it.

On the train - Benjamin looks SO much like
photos of Marty when he was a kid

I decided to walk west in the direction of Kleinmachnow, the town just to the west of us and on the other side of the former wall that was once around Berlin.  I set off with crop yoga pants - feeling a bit free having my ankles showing after months of being bundled up.  I pulled out one of my lighter weight down jackets and a long sleeved t-shirt.  No hat, no gloves and I felt light for the first time in months!!

 After less than 10 minutes I took my coat OFF. I was coatless for the first time in... oh, I don't know how long.  Coat LESS.  It felt so good.  I walked and noticed people literally emerging from their homes and squinting at the big, glowing, yellow ball in the sky.  People were everywhere on the sidewalks - much more than normal and they were mostly smiling.   And it was so very nice.  It gave me hope.  I really have not complained too much about the winter here. I have mostly embraced it and soaked it in but now with this first taste of Spring I was on a different track.  I was on the track heading toward Spring and it felt good.

One guy walked out and smiled at the sun and then smiled at me and we both laughed and at the same time said "sehr shön!"  Very nice!! Then we both kind of chuckled at our over exuberance at seeing and feeling the warmth of the sun.
I happily walked home with an extra bounce in my step.  Josie made us

all a lunch and we hopped a bus and a train to meet up with our friends Katy, Suzy and Leopold at a super cool, new to us, park.
The kids played and soaked up this gorgeous Spring day. Josie even said "wow, this feels amazing!!" and she never notices or comments on the weather.  Wow, what a difference a bit of warm sunshine makes!

On the way home we hit the mall because it was shopping Sunday and the food court was open.
And to celebrate the SUNNY day we also got ice cream cones.