RASPBERRY ALMOND LINZERTORTE

The taste of Hungary, and Motherhood and Bittersweet Slow Summers

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Hello!

I’m meeting you on the other side of an incredibly satisfying visit with my parents, a milestone birthday for my husband, a karate tournament, and ballet and voice recitals for my son and daughter. There’s still so much to do as we look into the last 13 days of school, yet there’s a quiet peace I haven’t felt in years.

Spending five full days with my parents, listening to my dad play the piano, holding my mom’s hand, and sitting around lunch after lunch on the patio with them while the kids were in school was nourishing in unimaginable ways. I’m too young to bear the thought of life without them but too old not to understand how precious time is.

As I put the house back together and dive into my daily to-dos, one of them stares me boldly in the face: we haven’t bought tickets for our summer trip to Hungary yet. It’s ludicrous; it’s late and may cost us dearly, yet here we are.

Despite general busyness and significant milestones that have filled our plates over the last several months, I realized this morning there’s another reason I’m dragging my feet. For the first time in 18 years of traveling to the clear Balaton waters and lush forests of Hungary’s Bakony region every July/August, I’m nervous to return.