Lowest Point

I knew it was coming. We had been warned. We knew it was not going to be a bed of roses, Brötchen and Oktoberfest every day. There was going to come a day where I would say to myself, "I think we made a big mistake...."

James joined the soccer team and it has not been going well. Suffice it to say that he does not have as much experience as the other players and they are letting him know it. When the team huddled up at the end of the practice, James stood six feet away from everyone else looking miserable.

He repeated to me on the way home some of the comments that have been thrown his way and when I asked what the coach says, James replied, "Nothing." My heart was just breaking for him. This was the kid who was the most enthusiastic about us moving here, who was so excited for school to start so he could make friends, who said the night we first told all the kids we were moving to Germany and that we knew they would miss the U.S., "You know, I bet when we are moving back to the U.S., we're going to miss Germany." And now this?

It was Curriculum Night tonight and I just could not bring myself to set foot in the school again. David went and when he returned, said, "You know, they kept referring to the Parent Handbook, saying 'a lot of answers to all your questions can be found there.'" Hmmm, I pointed out that the handbook would indeed be helpful, it we had received one, which, of course, we had not.

Today has been the lowest point of our stay here so far. That means things can only get better, right?