Some of the hardest things

I've reached the end of my day today and haven't posted yet. I think it was trying to catch up on mounds of German homework, trekking out to get the pups and trying a new recipe for dinner that seemed to consume my afternoon. Nothing to complain about, but the day just seemed to slip right by me.

This post is not about any of those things, but about some of the things that hard to be away from. We are loving living in Switzerland, but sometimes it's hard to be away from your family and friends, especially during their times of both joy and concern. 

For example, it seems like about 10 of my friends have recently popped out a baby. I often feel like I am updating BK on a daily basis on who has recently delivered, what they had and how they are. Not that I would be there for delivery or anything, but I like to at least be able to make a visit at home and perhaps provide a meal. From here I pretty much just have to let them know I'm thinking about them and will visit next time I'm in town.

Another not-so-happy example would be that our nephew had surgery for something that could have been major. Thankfully it turned out to be minor, but not being in the same time zone to get updates and see if there was anything we could do made us feel very far away.

I think the hardest one has been that my mom unexpectedly had to have surgery yesterday at around 6pm. At that point I wasn't even still awake, as it was 1am here. She had her hand operated on, thanks to a cat bite, but is staying in the hospital for two nights and is then going to stay with my sister. At least she didn't resist that idea. There's not much convincing I can do from over here over the phone. CMH and I pretty much just have to plot, then both make suggestions and hope that it goes the way we want it to. I can't help thinking that things would be a little easier with me in Fort Worth...at least I could provide some support to both of them, be it a place to stay, meals, driving mom to doctor appointments, etc. 

I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned here somewhere. Perhaps I need to learn how to provide support without physically being there? Usually I like to step in and actually DO things. I guess I need to work on this, and hope that everyone back home knows we're thinking about them and will do anything possible to help out from across the ocean- whatever that may be.