At 8 o’clock this morning the Saint and I took Precious Oldest to the airport. She is leaving, with a girlfriend, for a four week jaunt through parts of Europe. They are, right about now, boarding a flight for London. They will visit London, Dublin, Galway and Limerick. Followed by Paris, Venice, Florence, Sienna, Pompeii and Rome. They will fly back to London from Rome June 17th and then back home the following day.
This trip is on their dime. They’ve been saving money for this expedition since their high school graduation. (Oh, Christmas and birthday gifts included sturdy luggage and many travel items, but still.)
We gave trying to rent them a cell phone that will work over there (it aint cheap folks) because our luck in that area from our past trips has not been that great; save for the Saint’s crackberry which is a work phone and thus not an option. Communication is going to be shall I say...spotty.
We’re hoping that starting with English speaking countries will help acclimate them before they have to deal with the French and the Italians. (My personal experience is that the French are far more difficult to deal with in terms of language. We shall see.)
Yes, I know there is a potential flu pandemic looming. Yes I know there are serial killers, rapists, pickpockets and general scumbags living in all of theses cities. Yes I know the only language the girls speak besides English is Spanish. And that they are not, in fact, visiting Spain.
I know all of this but we put them on a flight nonetheless. Because if not now when? In two years they will be graduating from college and presumably looking for gainful, full time employment. There will be many things, financial and otherwise, that will stand between them and a trip like this.
So we are letting go. And doing a lot of praying. I'm just sayin'.
8 comments:
Letting go is hard, but she will come back stronger, more independent and hopefully with some great stories to share. Good job Mom!
Oh, good for them! (And good for you!) I'm sure they will have a glorious time and come home with stories to tell for the rest of their lives.
This is the time for adventure. Well, it's always time for adventure but as you say, life takes over with an iron fist most of the time.
I'm impressed that they saved the money themselves - that's no small feat.
Bonne chance et bon voyage to them!
I would have loved to be able to have that sort of experience when I was that age. Can you just imagine everything they're going to see and experience? They will remember that trip for the rest of their lives. I think it's amazing. I think it's great that you're letting her do this. She'll be so excited and full of stories when she comes back. And hopefully, pictures that she may let mom post? :)
How exciting!!! I wish I had done something like that when I was their age.
It sounds like a fantastic adventure--and top-notch parenting.
That's awesome!
Now, remember what you told me about Kleenex at graduation? Take a box to the airport. ;)
This will change their lives forever. Brava! All things good will come of it!
Oh, my. I had to wait for my thirties to learn the sorts of astounding and mundane things that one can only learn when one is "away". What an adventure!
Brave Mom.
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