The Adventure Begins

October 7th, 2009, 11:30 am, my adventure begins. For the next 3 years, Magda, my wife, Frannie, our dog, and I will be spending most of our lives in Germany.

I suppose if you ask why we are doing such a thing at this point in our lives, you might argue that our adventure began much earlier. Maybe on my 56th birthday, September 15th, 2008. Of course for most people, this is the day the most of us discovered the house of cards that had been constructed by the financial institutions that had become "too big to fail", that needed taxpayers to bail them out, and that felt that their management need to be handsomely rewarded for efforts. The resulting drop in the markets gave my company the opportunity to trim back compensation, particularly retirement benefits. While most were happy to still have a job, Magda and I had another option. I could take early retirement, and we could spend the next 3 years in Magda's home country where Magda could finish her teaching career. After that, with each of us having pensions, we can decide what to do.

And so, at 11:30 October 7th, my sister arrived to take Frannie and myself to the airport to fly to Frankfurt, Germany. There, we would meet Magda who had returned 2 months earlier when the school year had started in Koblenz where she had be assigned a teaching job.