To say goodbye.

Today was our last full day in Budapest and it was perfect (minus about five minutes). After some serious packing, we spent the afternoon with ALL of our friends. Mom met with her BFFs for lunch and I got to hang out with my friends at the park. EVERYONE came to say goodbye...and it turns out, we all have more friends than we thought. Funny how you don't realize it until you leave, huh? Thanks, universe. 

Poms and I took it pretty well, but mom lost it when the nursery owner (one of mom's good friends' and my best friend's mama), gave us a going away present. 

Good thing mom had her sunglasses, because she cried in front of ALL the parents and subsequently the way to the park. 

To say Budapest had a profound effect on all of us, would be quite an understatement. 

Mom put it in her own words to members of the group she started in November 2014, that now has almost 900 expat members...

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I arrived in Budapest four years ago, and it was rough.  Being a new mom, and new to the city, I found myself isolated and unsure if I had made the biggest mistake of my life.  I started this group because I was literally desperate for friends and for information that would help me navigate Hungary, motherhood, culture shock, and the heaps of confusion I was met with daily...namely why Hungarians are obsessed with sour cream, poppyseed, and paperwork/stamps (which I'm still not sure I quite understand). 

I had no idea how much this community would help shape my experience here, or what all my new friends would do for my soul. My friends, without question, have made Budapest home. 

Our family is off on a new adventure, in a new city, and I can only hope I find such an amazing group of people to help ease my nerves.  I can not thank you all enough for being such a supportive, open-minded, and funny group...

Thanks, all!

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So...now we will go to a new park, and hopefully make new friends...although mom knows, either way, that a part of all of us will always live in Budapest permanently.