My poor blog. How I've abandoned you during the past several weeks.

I should have gotten in touch, I know that. It was selfish of me not to call...

So what can I say. When I last wrote, I was getting ready to spend the summer in Virginia with the family. We successfully flew back, settled into my house, had my mom and stepdad to visit... then things got a little crazy. My stepdad wound up in the hospital here in Virginia - twice. In the meantime, the rest of us went to Pittsburgh for my brother-in-law's wedding (congratulations, Phil and Raquel!) which was wonderful, but stressful since I was worried about my mom back in Virginia. Once we made it home, I drove them back to Michigan, then flew back to Virginia once they were safe and sound.

In the middle of all of this was the usual swim team/catching up with friends madness, which I love. It's so nice to have a community to come back to here in the US. But I feel like I'm completely unable to touch base with everyone I want to see. So it's great fun, while being it's own special brand of stress.

This week, I really want to focus on the important things - seeing friends, being present for my kids, and enjoying the little moments. Because summer is already slipping through my fingers, and August 21 is quickly approaching (hello, England!)

On a side note, it truly has been the "summer of logistics". While the above was going on, I didn't even mention the shipment of household goods that we sent to the UK, the truckload of stuff that went to the river house, the fact that we've decided to rent out our main family home - so we need to empty it by mid-August, the maintenance work to be scheduled, selling off furniture we don't need, and an entire host of other middling details that slip through my brain on a regular basis.

My fabulous husband is handling the pack out in Brussels this week and next. Until that's done, I refuse to think about the day I meet the moving van at our new house in Surrey...

A do-nothing day...

Today was a strangely relaxed day, considering that we're leaving one week from Friday for good. First I did my Insanity workout, which involved an hour of high intensity intervals. My legs felt dead at first, but it turned out to be a great workout. I was absolutely dripping with sweat at the end.

On a side note, if you're looking to lose weight and you're not prone to injuries, Insanity is a great way to scorch off the excess fat. I have 2 1/2 weeks left on this round of Insanity (my second), then over the summer I'm going to do Focus T25, which is another Shaun T workout that's going to be released next week. 10 week program, 25 minute workouts, 5 days a week. With the crazy schedule over the summer, it should fit the bill. Then, in the fall I'm going to do a workout program called Chalean Extreme. It's 12 weeks of cardio and weights (which I need), and hopefully it will take me to where I want to be (abs at 42, anyone?) I'd like to see if that's possible...we'll find out in the fall.

Then, I laid out in the sun - because it was actually warm and sunny here in Belgium, and that never happens!

I also took the dog for a walk in the forest, which she loves. We have a 3 1/2 year old Vizsla named Sofie. She's a bundle of energy, but she's a beautiful dog and great fun to have around.

Basically, I accomplished nothing, and that's ok. At 4 pm I picked up my kids at school (with a couple of their friends), then fed them and did the swim run to NATO. At some level, I embraced the predictability of it all. Come fall, I have no idea what normal will look like. I have full confidence that I'll figure it out, but right now it's a bit of a mystery.

The party's over, time to look ahead!

This past Saturday night we had a great party at our place, a "last hurrah" in Brussels. More than 20 of our closest fiends came together to share good food, great wine and excellent company. We have become so close over the past four years, serving as each others' second families and supporting each other through thick and thin. This party was probably the last time we'll ever be together all at once again, though I'm sure I'll see them again. I'm not moving far, but others are heading to the US, Italy and points beyond. I will miss them all!

My husband is in London for a few days, and tomorrow he'll get to see the house we're renting for the first time. The first house we tried to rent fell through for reasons outside of our control, so I went to find another. It's great, and I'm really happy that he'll be able to see it before the day we move in!

Next Friday we'll fly back to the US for the summer. Each year we head back to our hometown fora month, where the kids can be part of the neighborhood swim team and see all their old friends. It's a great way for them to remember that they're actually Americans! Then we'll spend a few weeks at the  Chesapeake with family and friends. It's a great way to recharge each year before we head back to expat world - with all the unknowns to come!

I've been on a fitness journey for the past three months. Back in February I happened to see an infomercial for a workou program called Insanity. Understand, I don't do infomercials. Ever (well, except OxyClean). But something about it struck me - work hard, do this ridiculous Plyometric, jumping around, push-up, burpee craziness, eat well and you can get in shape. Not that I was huge, but four years of Belgian chocolate and food had me a little soft around the middle. Plus I had a black tie event coming up and couldn't breathe in my dress. So I took the plunge and ordered the system.

Good call on my part. It's tough, don't get me wrong - I'm 42, and my legs don't have the spring they had in high school. I wore a brace on my bum right knee for the first month, and pinched a nerve in my shoulder very badly (it took two weeks to clear up). But the weight started falling off. I fit into my dress, dropped 10 pounds the first month, and at this point I'm down 18 lbs total (about 10 lbs less than at high school graduation. I finished up my first round of Insanity in early May and just finished month 1 of Round 2 today. For once I won't mind wearing a swimsuit at the pool.

This isn't going to be a fitness blog, but since I've started focusing more on health and fitness it's a theme that will undoubtedly recur. I need to stay focused, even during the summer, and even with all the upheaval that's coming down the path...

Preparing to say goodbye...

I named this blog "Eurogistics" because sometimes, expat life is a logistical nightmare. Planning for moves, navigating a foreign culture, handling family expectations... it takes a lot of thought and hard work.

Living overseas, thousands of miles from family, means that your friends play a much bigger role in your life than usual. Friends are your support network, and you help each other in good times and in bad. Unfortunately, the transient nature of expat life means that these strong friendships are frequently interrupted, when postings end and people have to move on.

We first lived in Belgium from 2001 to 2004. When we moved, we had a 5 month old baby and no clue what we were doing. Things worked out well - our next door neighbors - Gayl and Nicolas - turned out to be great friends, who were there with us through thick and thin. I will never, ever forget how desperately sad I felt climbing into the taxi to head to the airport, to catch a plane back to the US for the last time. I wept in the back of that car, knowing that part of my heart would always be in Europe.

Then five years later, we came back.  By this point our third child was 2 1/2, and we decided to send her to a local Belgian school. It was a great decision - I have so many incredible friendships with other women in the neighborhood, that my life has been enriched again forever. But now, it's time to say goodbye again. So many of us are leaving - I'm heading off to London, so I can come back to visit those who are staying behind, but others are heading to the U.S., Japan, Italy... and we will never again all be together in one place. We've created something special here, and I don't even want to think about how I'll feel on June 28, when we head out to the airport. That's the dark side of expat life.

And so we'll begin again in Surrey, one of the counties that borders London. We've started to put the building blocks of a life in place. We have a school (TASIS, which looks fantastic), a house, a swim club and a springboard diving club. I've made contact with a couple of women, and I know that the entire family will make new connections and friendships. But right now it's that's theoretical. I have to mourn what I'm leaving behind. And this time, I know that we'll be moving to London for the long term. That means we will stay, but friends will leave and new ones will arrive. And so the cycle repeats.

I've lived overseas for seven years of my adult life, and I've never managed to launch a meaningful blog. Now that we're about to hop the Channel from Belgium to the UK, it's high time I started one. I already have strong opinions about UK property agents (80% bad). Watch this space, there's more to come...