Below lies a random picture, taken at a random moment. It is easily one of my favorites — I lagged behind the group long enough to steady my aim and take the shot.
A bridge in Amsterdam (Summer 2010)
My eyes are torn between the purplish-blue flowers at the bottom and the too-neat, Photoshop-esque clouds at the top. I do not quite remember what part of Amsterdam it is in, only that it was on the way to the Rijksmuseum. But to me, it symbolizes a lot, reminders of why I want to move to the Netherlands in the first place. It is not the beauty of the scene, per se, but more the calmness that peeks out from behind the image.
Like many, my fiancé and I have struggled with the time difference, though thankfully it is 6 hours now instead of 7 hours when we first met. I am lucky as I can see him for a bit after I come home for work, before he goes to sleep. I have been asked the question time and time again of how we do it, but when you don’t know anything else, you don’t really understand what you’re missing. Except at Schiphol Airport, when the air duct system mysteriously makes his eyes tear up a bit when you have to separate, again.
The picture above represents the peacefulness of when we finally live together, of not needing to book airline tickets or make a countdown clock for the next trip. But it also represents adventure – what is on the other side? You must walk across to find out. Take the leap, see what it is like, and be richer for the experience.
Now is the time to make a lists, plural. Beyond the lists of what must be done: forms to fill out, governments to inform. The list of furniture to buy, to make an apartment for two rather than one. The lists of where to go – the Keukenhof looks like a fun possibility — of places to visit. Things to experience, to embrace wholeheartedly simply for what they are. Now is the time.
Life in the Hague 