Thankful for Brothers

Last night we went down to the marina in Sveta Nedjela to enjoy one last dinner together with Dave's brothers before heading for home to the Czech Republic tomorrow. 

This has been such a special and memorable time with Josh and Steve, sharing life together for a week here on Hvar. I'm so glad it worked out, despite all the restrictions and difficulties in the world these days. 

We left the house at 7 AM to head for the ferry in Stari Grad. It was a gorgeous day so Claire and I actually sat outside on the top deck for most of the two hour ride, while Dave had meetings by phone (and was still having one as we were about to get back in our car!).

I actually love that we have a long drive home once we land in Split. 

It gives time to reflect and transition as we make the twelve hour trip back home to Czech. There are traditions even associated with that drive, like stopping at a particular rest area where a man sells Croatian honey that we all love!

We stopped in Zagreb for several hours because Dave needed to have two Zoom meetings about our upcoming fall training event, so found a place for Claire and I to get dinner at, with fast wifi for Dave.

Then we crossed over our first border, into Slovenia, heading home.

It was super quiet at the border, with mostly just trucks going through. 

As it is in many places throughout the world because of coronavirus restrictions, the tourist season in Croatia has been greatly impacted with less people coming this year. In fact, a few days ago, Slovenia put Croatia on their "red" list, and told Slovenes that if they didn't come home in 24 hours, they would have to quarantine for 14 days. I read that some 40,000 Slovenes headed to the borders (glad we weren't traveling that day), heading for home right away in order to avoid that, even if it meant cutting their vacation short. 

These are strange times, no doubt.

Which makes me all the more thankful for the time with family that we were able to enjoy this past week! The Lord knew we all needed this time together to bolster us going forward into whatever the fall may hold.