I am struggling.
Part of it is when I write and publish our last trip to Copenhagen it will be over. Then this last year, stuck in pandemic era Louisiana, will be even more real. Our time there already feels nebulous. Like if I think too hard about it, it will fade away never to have existed at all.
That’s not to say aspects of it were not difficult. Change is hard. Even positive change. For everything I loved about our time in Denmark there was a negative. The biggest one being the stressors of my husband’s job- the exact thing we went to Denmark to get away from. But I loved our apartment, our location, LB loved her school, and it felt like we were just starting to settle in when we had to leave.
And one of the most difficult aspects of Copenhagen is perhaps even more difficult here: finding our tribe. Denmark is pretty closed. Unless you are part of the dating scene, the young dating scene, forming deep connections with Danes is difficult unless you speak fluent Danish. That can be true of any country you move to. But even the expat community was closed compared to what I had previously experienced with the vast majority of people I met being married to Danes and immersed in Danish life. It took a solid year of actively reaching out (well, actively for my introvert self) to begin to connect to people I felt could become friends.
Here it took over two years. And that was without a global pandemic.
Once again, I am going to delay. To hold onto this last, small, adventure.
Sorry.
Next time.
I promise.