Dear Clemmie,

This is the first time, in many times as you may remember, that I have been able to join the LTC on his deployment; the final weeks of his final deployment to be exact.  I am what the army likes to refer to as a “trailing spouse”.  I find this term as slightly off putting, and as funny as my previous title “dependent”.  Considering I took the risk of leaving my job before embarking on this mission, I do now believe that “dependent trailing spouse” is an apropos term for my situation.   I’m not here long enough to qualify for a job, so my plan is to see as much and do as much as any eager, motivated trailing spouse can do in three months or less.

Despite the strange rumor that I was actually headed to Iraq, I can report that I am presently in Stuttgart, Germany.  We have a delightful little apartment on the corner of Hauptstatter Strasse, which is very convenient to museums, the opera house and the Schlossgarten, where I walk and explore daily.  My German language skills are somewhere between horrible and awful, but everyone is kind and I muddle through.

I’m off to catch a train but one last observation is the roses that have suddenly exploded in the city in the past few days – they are everywhere, in all colors and perfume the air around them.  Stuttgart could give Portland (Oregon) a run for the title of “Rose City”.