smiling and sad

"you have to walk this road..." a person told me, as the cancer journey began..

i realized it was true, but times come when i don't like it at all... yet sometimes a friend agrees to walk alongside me for a while...

Peggy was one of those friends and our last three weeks were one of those times.  it was such a gift to me!

I was surprised by Paris many times -- starting my first sight of the Tour Eiffel in a car with a sweet driver named Frank (we had lots of drivers, but Frank was my favorite...) The other views and the times in the cafe where we would people-watch.  I had not thought much about it other than to experience the moments as they came upon me.  We missed the guide at the Louvre and still had a glorious time, most surprised by the log cabin patterns on the wrappings of the cat mummies.  We delighted in the stained glass of Notre Dame and sat on the benches among the beauty at the Musee D'Orsee.  We skipped a lot of things that we could have done.

I was hot many times in Paris -- the weather was cool and people wanted warmth in their buildings... without air movement, i "glowed" and then sweated profusely... dripping so much that we laughed about it often enough

A couple of times i had to beg off, but we found an overall pace that i could do and that kept us seeing the best parts of our location -- we were able to do a lot!  I particularly liked the city walls in Lucerne that we hadn't planned on exploring!

I also enjoyed watching the travel bug bite Peggy so hard she will never get rid of it... she's already dreaming of the next time she will go to Paris.  I have been smiling about how travel has been a total treat in my life, and i suspect travel will continue to be a part of Peggy's future.  It might be with Tim or with her boys, it may be with a group... but she's going back to Europe!

Our locations were different -- Paris - busy city but with lots of greenery,

Lucerne - old town with lovely covered bridges and ancient painted buildings,

Wengen - quiet village with a stunning view over the Lauterbrunnen valley with waterfalls and cowbells and delightful cloudscapes,

Vienna -- rather dirty big city but loved the summer palace, horse practices and the concert,

Hallstatt - postcard dream village in which i didn't stop grinning,

Munich - surprising city with toy museum and flowers being unexpected delights... our only time with a tour bus.

Working on getting back on Utah time, waiting for a bag that didn't follow me home... trying to not be lonely and sad about the trip being over.  Annoyed about the financial ugliness (pickpocket in Paris, extra funds for train delay, unexpected baggage fees to get to Vienna)

Money gets to be printed paper, not much emotion tied to it.  Profoundly grateful i have enough. And willing to believe the universe will be ok as i go forward, no matter what happens.

Grateful for a ride home and a hug from my sweet sister of the heart... who bought me milk and bananas and cooked me dinner. 

Loved and loving and lovable.  it has to be enough.

The walk continues.  Laundry and massage today, work tomorrow. Oncologist on Wednesday might decide to stay the course or make a turn.  We'll keep dealing with it one day at a time.

I'll go look for pictures before i post it