I didn’t take very many photos on our recent trip to Munich. We barely went into the city, in fact, we only went in once — to stroll around Schloss Nymphenburg on a sunny Sunday afternoon. As we wandered along the paths, the beautiful spring sunshine beating down on our shoulders, and the baby sleeping in her stroller, I had a moment where I realized — this could have been our normal.

I’d like to think that there are alternate universes out there, where things have gone ever so slightly different, and instead of living here in Spokane, we packed everything up and moved to Germany. In all realities, we probably wouldn’t be living in Munich, but it was a fun thing to think about as we sat down at the cafe and had our cake, and then posed in front of the lilacs on our way back to the car.

This last photo is something different. It’s the view from the sofa at my grandparents-in-law’s home in Munich. From there, you can see through the doors into their Winter Garten (the German version of a sunroom, it’s all glass and you put your plants in there in the winter). I’ve sat on this sofa during every trip to Germany, in this corner, and stared through these doors. I’ve seen rain and sun and snow fall out those windows. And this photo, more than almost any other, causes me such homesickness for a home I’ve never lived in. Funny how that works, isn’t it?