The (Mis)Adventures of the Wahl Family
Sep 22 2008
Welcome to the first of many of our stories. We are the Wahl family, and we are about to begin a journey filled with enlightenment, newfound knowledge, adventures, and misadventures (after all, no trip is fun without misadventures). We are about to take a yearlong journey across the U.S., in an RV, towing a car, and traveling with 3 kids under the age of 12 (our kids, by the way, are 11, nine, and six years old – that’s two bookend boys and a girl in the middle).
Why, you might ask. Well, we get a lot of that reaction. Or the other one is: well, maybe, but without the kids. Anyway, before I address that issue, I would like to introduce my family. My lovely wife, Mary Claire, is a recently retired Air Force officer who spent 22 years as a nurse and a certified nurse midwife. Her most recent assignment was at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (yes, that is run by the Army, but they allow some Air Force personnel there — and I thank them immensely for that).
I am what the corporate world refers to as a “trailing spouse.” I (thankfully) gave up my corporate career with a large insurance brokerage firm to follow my wife to such places as Las Vegas, Okinawa, Germany, and Washington, D.C. My time was kept occupied raising our three children and teaching business communication courses part time for the University of Maryland, University College (UMUC) as an adjunct professor in their online distance education program.
As I mentioned, we have three kids. Joe, 11, speaks fluent German, likes to play soccer and ski, and enjoys playing the piano and reading Tintin books. Anna, 9, also is fluent in German, skis, reads voraciously, and plays the piano with her older brother. Finally, Sam, 6, likes to ski, play soccer, and imitate Mr. Bean (the British comedian).
We returned to the states July 3 upon my wife’s retirement and after 4 wonderful years in Germany. Now, we are about to begin another journey — the RV trip of a lifetime as my wife shows the kids the country she proudly served for 22 years. On this journey, we’re also looking for the right spot in the U.S. to call “home.”
So, then, next up in the installment will be how we came about this idea. Don’t go away.
