Mags is Here!!!

My very best friend (I am very blessed with a few very close girl friends) finally came home to Utah for the first time in 6 years. We were lucky enough to meet up in Paris almost two years ago. That was the only time I've seen her in the last 6 years. 7 years ago this past July, Mags did something most of us don't have the strength to do. Her dream was to move to Germany, so at the age of 26, she moved there, after just one semester of German at the University of Utah. Now, don't get me wrong. She didn't just up and move to Germany without plans. She received her masters degree from the U in Education and received her English Second Language Certificate enabling her to teach in other countries. Then she moved. And, often we tease her that she was a huge Alphaville band groupie and followed them to their home town. But what she did as a single female took so much courage. I'm very proud of her, even though I miss her terribly.

On Monday I was so antsy. The opening scene from "Love Actually" (If you haven't seen this movie, it is AMAZING, you must see it!!! One of my favorites.) at the Heathrow Airport where Hugh Grant is talking about how love is really all around us and one of the best places to see this is the airport kept playing in my head. The truth of this really hit home to me as I was thinking all day long about seeing Mags come down those escalators and getting to meet her husband, Danny, for the first time. Obviously, I arrived at the airport twenty minutes before her plan even landed and waited FOREVER until she and Danny finally came down that escalator 50 minutes later. Afterwards, I went to her parents' house with them so that I could visit. It was really great to talk to them. I really like Danny. He is hilarious. This is his first time in the United States, so it is so interesting to see things from his perspective. (Like the fact that this past weekend they drove to San Francisco and he was fascinated with the desert of Nevada. He thought it was amazing- they don't have anything like it in Europe.) I finally left Sandy at midnight.

Then on Wednesday evening they came to our house so that they could see the house and meet our dogs and Danny could meet Chris. It was a lot of fun. Once again we talked until midnight. I felt so guilty because I didn't want them to leave, but I had to work in the morning. Like I said above, they have been in San Francisco for a long weekend, but I am excited to see them again this Tuesday night and more pictures are sure to follow. The dogs loved Mags, as you can see below: