Pieces of my heart

“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.” – Christine Thiel

Flying halfway around the world is never easy, no matter how you do it. By the time I landed in Frankfurt, Germany, after a direct flight from San Francisco, I was pretty darn exhausted. I found my gate for the connecting flight to Stavanger, and only then did it hit me that I was in Germany. I lived in Bremerhaven, Germany, for about a year total in 2011 and 2012, and it’s one of few places in the world that I miss on a constant basis. I definitely left a piece of my heart in Bremerhaven.

Sunset over the Weser River, Bremerhaven, 2011

The flight from Frankfurt to Stavanger was in some ways exactly what I needed because it bound my past and present experiences in Europe seamlessly together. We flew directly over Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cuxhaven, and other towns I had become familiar with during my stint in Germany. The pilot announced each one as we passed, and to be honest, I was close to tears. Flying over a place that I miss, to a new place that I will probably soon miss as well, was incredibly poetic. It made me realize just how blessed I am.

To me, home is the place where you feel most like yourself. I feel at home whenever I am among people that I care about or I am in a place that I know well. On the plane, I couldn’t help but wonder what pieces of myself I would leave in Stavanger. I wonder if 6 months or 2 years from now I’ll break down in tears when I hear someone speaking Norwegian in an airport. I wonder what fond memories I will take away, what friends I will hold onto.

I look forward to making Stavanger my home.