A crazy, wonderful, life-changing year

Hey beautiful souls,
We're in the mid of January 2021 and we are all looking back on a more or less crazy and challenging year 2020.
For me, it was a year full of changes and happenings, joy and tears, challenges and achievements, struggles, and success...
All in all, I can say it was a life-changing year and I am grateful for every single day and moment of it.
I hope you are all doing well and came safe and healthy into the new year!?
I also hope that you forgive me that I was so inactive here in my blog and also on my Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Patreon account for many months.
SO, so often I wanted to sit down and write something or make a new video or at least share some glimpses of my life with you, but honestly, there was just SO much happening that I either just didn't find the time for it or I didn't feel inspiration for it.
The whole last year was so intense that I feel like the time just flew by so quickly that I wasn't able to quite 'catch' it. And another thing is that I really enjoyed simply living in the moment, totally present, without interrupting by trying to catch these moments on camera and putting them into pictures and words...
HOWEVER, I will try to do my BEST to share the most special moments and happenings of my year 2020 with you!
BRAZIL
As most of you who are following me on Instagram and/or Facebook have probably seen, I've been traveling to Brazil at the very beginning of 2020 - or no, it was even the end of the year 2019, just after Christmas, when I took my flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
I've celebrated one of the best New Year Eves of my life, followed by one of the best years of my life!
The pictures above are just a little glimpse of this wonderful, amazing time there. I went there for three weeks. Alone. Without my children. It was the first time in my and their life that we've been away from each other for such a long time and I have to admit that this was the hard part of the story. It was a kind of sacrifice for both me and my children. But in the end, it was worth it.
2. LOVE

So, the reason why I went to Brazil was... love. But let's start the story from the beginning: Fabio and I got to know each other through social media. I actually never really believed that falling in love could happen that way, but I was taught differently.
At first, we were just writing a lot and then started talking with each other via video call. We found out that we have many things in common like hobbies, interests, talents, spirituality, and exchanged our thoughts and ideas...
It didn't take very long for us to fall in love. And, well, naturally at one point we both wanted to meet each other in 'real-life'.
But of course, it wasn't that easy for neither one of us. For him mostly because of the quite expensive flight ticket. For me both for financial as well as family reasons.
But it seems as if it was destiny for us to meet and everything worked out somehow for us like magic.
Actually, my parents made the biggest birthday gift ever for me and that was the flight ticket to Brazil (and back of course). I am still so deeply grateful for this very special gift!
So, I went there, and getting to know each other in real was even better than we both had imagined before!
The video I posted above is a song that we both wrote together in Brazil and recorded in the beautiful and cozy 'Sea and Forest Yoga Hostel' in the jungle of Trindade, Rio de Janeiro.
3. FAR DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP
After I came back home to Germany, I was both happy and a bit sad, too.
Happy to finally be back together with my children, but sad for not being able to see Fabio anymore for probably a long time.
All we had now was communication through the internet, just like before. But at least we still had this possibility. And really, I've never felt so grateful before for these modern achievements of technology! Nowadays we take it so much for granted, but isn't it amazing how we can communicate with people all around the globe and even for free!?
However, it wasn't always easy. We are living in a different time zone. So, when it was 3 PM in Germany, it was just 10 AM in Brazil. Sometimes it was difficult to find a good time to talk, fitting for both of us. But we still managed to call each other every day and spend some time together to exchange thoughts and make plans.
4. CORONA

Who would have thought that the year 2020 would be such a weird and crazy year, as it turned out?
When this topic was becoming very present in all the media in Germany, all over Europe, and in the U.S., it was still not a big deal in South America at that time. So, when the politicians here started to set up more and more restrictions and regulations, I started to worry if it would even be possible for Fabio and me to see each other again in the foreseeable future.
When the borders of Germany were already closed for tourists from other countries, I got a strong feeling that if I wouldn't take the chance to visit Fabio again before Brazil would close its' borders too, it might take a long time for us to see each other again. And my feeling was right, as it turned out later.
5. BRAZIL AGAIN, THIS TIME WITH MY KIDS & MOM
I checked the prices for flights to Brazil and found out that they were surprisingly low due to covid.
I talked with my mom about it and my parents decided to help us out once again! May they forever be blessed for this generosity!
This time, my children would come with me and get to know Fabio and a bit of Brazil, too. And even my mum decided to come with us. She already had been to Brazil once when she was a young woman and traveled to South America. At this time she fell in love with a man in Peru and stayed there for three years. But that's another story... Anyway, she loves to travel and took the chance to escape the German lockdown, just like the kids and I did. And we didn't regret it.
Wow, as this blog post is getting super long, I think it's better to take a little break here and continue tomorrow with Part II.
I am so happy that I finally found the time AND motivation to sit down and write again, after such a long time. I really missed it!!!
Thank you so much for reading this! I hope you are fine and I would be happy to see you again, very soon.
Lots of love,
Sarah