Just a Note. . .

Tomorrow morning Mollie and I are driving to Porto Alegre (with Emma). It's about a 6-7 hour drive. Kevin's been traveling this week and he'll be at the hotel when we get there. I'm pretty excited to see him (interpret that how you want). Although I'm more accustomed to his traveling and the weeks fly by, I'd prefer to have him here, with us.
Mollie and I are running a 10K race on Sunday morning. I've never run a 10K (unless you count the marathon, which I don't), so I'm a little nervous. I feel like we've trained really hard and we're prepared to run the race, but still. . .
After the race, Mollie will fly to the U.S. and Kevin and I (and Emma) will head back to Horizontina, with Todd Boekhoff in tow. Well, not in tow. That would be difficult. We know Todd from Ottumwa and he's visiting for work and bringing quite a few goodies. A runner. That's what he is. He's bringing some fun stuff. I'm excited (interpret that as happy).
Lots of time in the car. Lots of running. I'm thankful Emma's a rock star traveler. Today she said, "Mommy, let's go on a road drive with Mollie." Should be fun.
Oh, a few nights ago, Emma and I went to dinner with the other American girls. As we were getting ready to order, a man passed by our table. Mollie knows him from previous encounters and from playing tennis. She made small talk with him and then introduced us, her American friends. He then tells us he has a daughter living in the U.S. and that she's been there for quite a few years. I guess what impressed me was that he didn't feel the need to scream to the world, "HEY, I'm Gisele Bundchen's DAD!!!" To him, she's his daughter. For those of you who don't know, tiny little Horizontina is the hometown of the famous Gisele. Her dad lives a few blocks from us, but this is the first time I've actually met him. Very nice man. Very grandpa-looking. Very normal. Not sure what I was expecting, but it was nice.
That same night, at dinner, we met a few Americans who were visiting for work. As we chatted about life in Brazil, I mentioned that the weather is awesome for running all year round. He then said he and his wife run marathons as a hobby. It was fun to connect with a total stranger about something that's such a part of my life right now. It as also fun to share some of the advantages and disadvantages of living here. What I realized as I shared with them was that the advantages are now outweighing the disadvantages. The difficulties are becoming less difficult. It's becoming easier and easier to live here. (Don't worry Grandma, I promise we'll come back someday.)
So, that's it. Just a few positive thoughts during a really hard week (a post for another day).