We are about four days from going home. It has been a great trip, but I have hit a wall of tiredness that my husband doesn’t feel, so I am hanging out in our temporary home alone. I know that it is natural to want to see as much of the places we visit as possible, but because I am 73, I also have the added dimension of not knowing if I will be able to return in a year to see the places we miss on this trip.
At the end of a long day of sight-seeing and traveling on public transportation or walking, I have parts of my body hurting that I didn’t know I had. In Europe, even the beds are low to the ground. There are no box springs to bring the bed up to about nee or thigh level, which I am accustomed to, and I am four feet, ten inches, I hope. The chairs sit low and the sofas, so they are not a great help to an aching back and hips. Trying to stand up from being so low to the ground reminds me that I am not a young whippersnapper.
But, being here with family brings Douglas and me so much joy, and we are already planning when to return next year, if God wills it! I am stunned at what a difference a year makes in how the grandchildren look, their heights, and their maturity. One will turn 18 at the end of the year, so how long before he leaves for university?
However, for all the disadvantages, the trip is worth it each year, for there are few things in life more satisfying than seeing so much history and walking in the steps of people who lived here centuries ago. I love how Europe preserves history and doesn’t try to rewrite it. I can almost see people as they lived as I roam the rooms of their homes or how they prayed as I sit in the pews of their churches that have existed since the 13th century and onward.
Well, when I figure out how to post my pictures after I get home, I will post more. The kids last day of school is Friday, so we will celebrate with a pizza party and their friends. Then, we will prepare for returning home. I will feel the nearly 20 hours of traveling, as we fly to Amsterdam for our connecting flight and a nearly ten hour flight to Atlanta. Hope we can get back in, making sure all of our papers are in order and nothing on our computers that can be construed as against the present administration. Looking forward to my own bed!
Help from Heaven 
That’s how I now feel about travel, Regina. Glad I did so much of it when I was young as my back just won’t take the walking anymore. You are brave to still make the effort but also glad you are taking some time to rest as well. I’m worried about how I will fare in Quintana Roo for the month of December. We shall see…Safe travels home.
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