To begin, I cannot separate the trip entirely from my shattered life back home. Eulogizing my dad, one week before leaving and again one week upon return, played tricks upon my mind. The time between memorials floated above me like an astronaut’s spoon, hovering. Almost unreal.

The journey to London, Tunisia and Italy became more than a trip. It became a time to reflect as much as to enjoy. Now that it’s over, I’m left with an emptiness. But I’m also left with something. Something to hold onto forever, both from our adventure and more importantly, from my dad.

While I may no longer be eating nutella in the morning, or able to talk to my dad on the phone, I can remember. If I close my eyes, I can feel the Mediterranean sun soaking into my shoulders. I can hear my dad’s voice on the phone. Memory isn’t something from the past, it sits with us. Always.

The grand moments I remember are overshadowed by the simpler times. I remember looking at the moon from our attic window in London, speechless and together in the surreal world of jet lag. I remember walks in the rain followed by a good cup of tea. I remember my dad pouring sugar in his coffee. I remember his walk. His wool sweaters knit by Mom. In Tunisia, I hear Sonia’s voice. My kids counting in Arabic. Exotic smells of tuna and trash, boiling oil and jasmine reach out to me. I remember the face of my husband when he reached North Africa. I remember the face of my father when Michigan won a game. Or lost. I can taste the cookies packaged in long tubes of plastic wrap that we ate on the trains. I hear the pretzels crunch when my dad bit into a handful.

Of course, memory can stir loss. I miss the merry ways of London, the laughter in Tunisia. I miss Italian food so good that it awakened every sense in my soul. Tye’s right. Being back is harder than imagined. Not because of life’s reality, but because endings often leave you wanting. I want more gelato. I want more hunts in the souk. I want more time together. I want my dad. That I cannot change.

Our adventure will forever be opened and closed by my dad’s death. Friends have faith that I’ll find closure to both, and yet I’m not so sure endings demand a concrete conclusion. Nothing I do can change the emptiness of endings, but perhaps we have them all wrong.  Although an end, whether it’s a life or a trip, suggests a finale, it also offers the possibility of something new. And newness never stands alone.

In the end, there is no end. We take with us memory and experiences shared. We take with us grand adventures and simple moments. We take with us each other.

There were some good things about coming home.  I really loved seeing my frineds and my own bed. But, I didn’t realize how much I’d be missing the trip and both Tunisian families until I got back.

Tye

Last night...can't we stay?????

Our Most Memorable Experiences and Things We Won’t Miss:

London:

Ellie-Windsor Castle

Olivia: Hobnobs at midnight and High Tea

Tye: The London Tower

Tunisia:

Ellie- the bread and Aziza

Olivia- sourballs and all the fun with family

Tye- the scorpion

Italy:

Ellie- fountains and gelato

Olivia- my birthday and all the fun we had that day!

Tye- gladiators

Things Won’t Miss About our Grand Tour

-          sharing a room with everyone

-          dirty trash

-          being carsick and crazy drivers

-          hotness and bad smells

-          the SAME clothes every other day

-          paying for water

-          weird toilets

-          hard beds and or sleeping on the floor

-     having to stop  and go home!!!!!!!!!!!

happy birthday olivia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the food is amazing!!! Everything. And we’ve tried lots of new foods, all good.

You turn the water on a bathroom sink by pushing a pedal. Thin towels.

People drink expresso with lots of sugar standing up. Never mugs of coffee like mommy’s. But now she thinks she’s Italian and does it the other way.

Lemons grow everywhere.

Preago means everything.

Hot chocolate is like liquid pudding.

Crazy roads and drivers and no traffic lights.

They don’t cut your pizza. It’s very thin and yummy.

Still have to pay for water.

Men wear lots of suits and have fancy hair.

Art is everywhere and everything is pretty. Even the food!

a lunchroom with a view

and another lunch...

picknick lunch

and another picknick

dan's new office

We are in Ishia now. We took the trane frum Rome to Naples. daddy had his walit stolin! Then we went to Pompeii and after, took a boat to here. Tye pinched Ellie the hole time. I shut my eyes because I was a little bit seasick. When we got there we went to our hotel. After dinner we went on some rides. The first one was bumper cars. Ellie bumped me and I almost lost my grone up tooth. Then we went on the best of all! It was so fun! We went up and down and turned around. It was a giant circle that was hollow and had no top. I had my leg locked so I wouldn’t fly off becuase there was no seat belt. Tye even fell.

Our hotel has lemon trees so we picked them and made lemonade. It was good and sour. Oh, I almost forgot. We took a boat to Positano for lunch and went shopping and bought homeade nutella. The next day we went swimming in a pool with heated sea water. It was fun. Then we had a picknick. It was yummy! Then we swam in the sea. It was cold. I found shells.

I love it here!!!!!!

Our tour started in the Vatican museums. In the courtyards stood and enormous bronze sphere. It had cracks with a little globe coming out of it. The guide, Sev, told us some people called it the ‘death-Star’ while others called it ‘Life’. Sev also told us the enormous sphere measured to the same size as the ball on top of St. Peter’s.

Time kept ticking so we briskly walked through parts of the enormous museum. I became fascinated by all of the gorgious types of marble throughout different rooms. Over the floor and walls stretched blues, greens, pinks, and oranges.

After some time we reached my favorite painting in the library, the philosophy wall. Throughout the group of people in the painting, famous philosophers were sprinkled about. Plato, with the head of DaVinci, Aristotole, Pathagerous, and others. Raphael, who painted it, and Michaelangelo worked in the Vatican at the same time. One day, Raphael peaked into the Sisitne Chapel and saw Michalangelo’s masterpiece, so he decided to paint him with all of the philosphers. If I were Raphael, I would’ve done the same thing.

The Sistine Chapel amazed me. I loved the Last judgement the most. The idea of the painting interested me. Did they really believe most people went to hell when they died? The people also amused me. Michaelangelo originally painted everybody naked but the priests said he had to change it. He’d painted some of the priests in hell and wouldn’t let anybody touch it. After he died another artist added the clothes to everyone.

Sev said Michaelangeo painted alone and had no friends. Michaleangelo painted himself in the Last Judgement, as the skin of an apostle who was killed by being skinned alive.

The Vatican was interesting because I expected a big church but also found a museum.