I am surrounded by sweetness and exhaustion. I decided that this blog post will be a little compilation of some precious moments during my time in Germany. I won’t write about being worn out by the quantity of things I thought I had to do; like renovating my apartment, working with asylum seekers, organizing a festival, tutoring English, teaching German, being part of the Freiburg CI festival and all that with a little one year old on the side. This article will be about 5 times sweetness!

Sweet #1
This morning little Sequoia walked (yes, he walks!) to my side of the bed and said his first word:”Hi!” I think this was one of the most heart warming experiences I’ve ever had.

Sweet #2
One evening at the cloudjam, I was sitting in one corner of the room, observing dancing people and holding my son. I saw and felt how everything in the room became alive and present. The dance, the violin and the focus was flowing easeful together. I was quiet, content and at the right place. I was touched by the reason why I organized this little sparkly festival. I understood that my motivation was to bring all my homes together: Münsingen, the town where I grew up, the Rhineland, where I lived for almost 10 years and the Bay Area, the place where I am living now. All 3 homes were united through my 4th home –  the dance. Just writing this gives me goose bumps. All homes were represented by dear friends, old and new and it made me so tremendously happy that my brother was part of it by cooking deliciously for the whole dance crowd!
An article was written about our Jam by the local newspaper! : http://www.swp.de/muensingen/lokales/muensingen/Persoenlicher-Augenblick;art5701,3357339

All pictures courtesy of Norbert Mörchen.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Sweet #3
Celebrating the first birthday of Sequoia, alias Schnurzel, Bär, Bembes, Mini man or Knirps and of course my first birthday as a mother and Raj as a father. Silently, while eating cake and playing with the children, I remembered the birth and the first weeks of his life. I am still (and probably forever) grateful about the birth and especially about the amazing team that helped me through 48 hours of labor. I spent 4 weeks at home, recovering and really just being with the newborn and the new constellation of my family. I had feelings, I have never felt before and at the same time I was still the same old me. When people ask me what did you learn? I always say, that I finally understood what it means to surrender completely.

with litte David

Sweet #4
Dance revival! Everybody that has entered motherhood knows how difficult it is to have a long, uninterrupted Contact Improv dance. For all others, out of various reasons, I can tell you it is hardly impossible. I had my f i r s t real looooong dance exactly one year after Sequoia’s birth at the 2nd night of the festival in Freiburg. I loved it! I felt invigorated, present, confident and so fragile. It was pure wonder and a reminder why I love this form of dancing! Yeah!

Sweet #5
2 days ago – At the playground: We were going home and my friend Anni held Sequoia’s hand. When we were passing a soccer field with playing children, he pulled at Anni’s hand and made her walk to the soccer field. He steered directly toward the big boys. Unfortunately they stopped playing and left. But one of the boys turned around, walked to Sequoia, bent down and gave him a completely unexpected kiss on his cheek! Oh my God, that was the sweetest thing ever!