Watching Dreams Come True

It’s been a long time since I shared some feelings, but there really feels like no better time. Let’s go!

Growing up my mom’s big dream was to go to Greece one day, I heard it often while Niko and I added place after place on to our never ending bucket list. My dad would say he wanted to see Graceland, an Elvis fan through and through, and my mom would say “Just give me a beach and I’m happy, but I have always wanted to go to Greece.” Then Under the Tuscan Sun came out (a favorite of ours) and suddenly Tuscany was on that list as well. For so long now it’s been “Greece and Tuscany” that when my parents first decided to book this trip for themselves I cried real tears of joy. I was beyond excited that my mom’s dream, a dream now equally shared by my dad was coming true.

Deciding to jump on their trip was one of the best decisions I ever made, and not because Greece has always been on my travel list as well. Getting to see them plan for their first trip to Europe made me feel like a parent, asking them if they had converted enough euros and ordered electrical plug adaptors. Did they have comfortable shoes and breathable clothes to battle the heat of a Greek summer? I peppered them with questions nonstop and almost always heard a dragged out “Yes mom” as a response because we all found the role play reversal pretty funny. The trip was absolutely magical, and I know I have so much more to say about it, but the most magical experience of it all was watching these two all week. They were adventurers, they traveled to a new land where they did not know the language and yet made friends with people that were once strangers, they ate foods they loved and some that made them go “eh,” they explored locations that have made marks on the history of Greece and took in sights beautiful enough to be put on a post card. They dealt with overpacking and broken luggage, delayed ferries and jet lag, and of course the mad dash every traveler experiences at some point when the locals take their time with your lunch but you have somewhere you need to be NOW, swallowing your food as you speed walk to where you need to go, passing shops along the way saying to yourself “I’m coming back to this area as soon as we’re done.” They did it all and I am beyond grateful I was able to experience it along side them, especially the moment when the inevitable conversation of every trip happened, “So, where to next?” I might not be able to go on every single trip with them but I’ll never forget the memories we made on this one, and hearing them mention all of the places they now want to go made my heart burst. They now have their own travel list that seems to be growing by the minute of magical places to one day explore, and don’t worry Tuscany is still on it 😉