Day 3

Sunday was a day of picture taking.  We all agree you just CAN'T take a bad photo in Oia, Santorini. We were trying to be a little creative with our poses and angles and even made a little "Happy" video.  We ate lunch at a little taverna where I had a cheeseburger.  I believe it was lamb, not beef but the best Gyro restaurant in town doesn't serve lamb.  Go figure.  Anyway, we decided to get a fish pedicure but they were closed.  We'd wait for Susan to get here anyway for that.  We took it easy and got a Gyro to go and sat on our patio and ate our dinner.  We turned early as we had reservations for a boat ride to another island in the morning.

Day 2

Saturday was filled with many different twists and turns.  We got in the car and drove down to Vousvoulos, a traditional village.  We ate lunch at Roza's Taverna and Mara, her daughter and our waitress was very nice and spoke very good English.  Most speak English in Oia well as this is an international vacation destination.  The restaurant was closing early as the Easter rituals were commencing that afternoon.  At the church in this village, Judas was hanging in effigy.  Mora says that they shoot him with gasoline and set him afire.  Seemed a little violent to me and not quite sure Jesus would really appreciate it.  But they are very passionate about their religion and their rituals.  Nancy had made reservations for us to eat "lamb stew" at midnight as this was traditional.  It was actually lamb intestines.  Nancy said she was just going to taste it.  I kind of doubt it as Nancy is one of the best cooks I know but she is not adventurous in what she eats.  She was unsure why reservations needed to be after midnight but we were famished and decided to eat earlier and cancel the reservations.  Our friends, Penelope, Honesty, and ____ explained that the faithful refrain from meat for 2 weeks prior to Easter and then can eat at midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning.  Easter reminds me a little of our Fourth of July because at midnight they set off fireworks in the church square and everyone goes to eat!  They take candles back to their houses/businesses lit from the ______and burn crosses on the threshold to ensure blessings for the next year.  

Arrival at Santorini Greece

I had booked two roundtrip tickets in order to have a day to tour Athens on my way home.  Deana will be accompanying me on this little side kick.  After booking trip, I was informed that a leg had been cancelled and I had to find an itinerary that fit with my 2nd roundtrip ticket.  I was concerned about going through customs so I had put about 4 or so hours between landing in Athens and departing for Santorini.  I went through customs in Brussels which had no wait line and only to show passport.  I arrived in Athens, grabbed my luggage, went straight to ticket counter and changed my flight to earlier flight.  Julie was coming from Wilson and would be on the earlier flight.  Nancy was picking her up and then later sending driver to get me because Good Friday traffic was a little harry.  Anyway, I surprised Julie at the gate, emailed Nancy to cancel driver and off we go into the wild blue yonder.

Nancy was there waiting on us and drove like an islander through those winding narrow roads.  We're staying in Oia (pronounced "ee ah") in a cave house on a side of a cliff overlooking the Caldera.  That means there are many steps that are not even, nor uniform in height and can be quite treacherous for the weak kneed. However, it is the most picturesque place on this planet.  We have decided you can't take a bad picture.

Our first night was a quick shower and out the door to stroll down the __________ and get a little taste of the village, literally and figuratively.  Being Good Friday meant we got to be right in the middle of all of the celebrations and rituals the people of Greece adhere to.  Churches are everywhere and were open so we strolled in ______ that was very near our house.  The Greek Orthodox churches are very ornate and most have a blue dome.  The faithful were to meet up at the church and follow the (we thought) baby Jesus to another church down the walk.  We made it back to house and slept in till noon as there are 7 hours difference in EST and Greek time.

Saturday, we drove d

Trip of a Lifetime

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Nancy Tucker Brown and I have been friends for many years.  We were high school buddies and then roommates our freshman year at Peace College.  She is one of the most sincere, beautiful people I know and I am lucky that she is my friend.  She is checking multiple boxes off of her bucket list and one of them is a trip to Santorini, Greece.  She rented a cave house called Unique Architect, Oia for a month and invited friends and family to join her.  Did I mention how generous she is too!  Anyway, I'm one of the lucky friends to have been invited.  Going through precheck at the security point just started my trip off right!  You don't have to take shoes off or anything.  I didn't even have to pull out my liquids although I had only 2 little things.  Zip zap, I'm through!  And the line was a mile long for regular security check.  So, I am sitting in the Charlotte airport drinking a Old Mecklenburg seasonal waiting to board my flight to Philadelphia (one of the legs to my long journey to Santorini), taking a deep breath and just thinking about how wonderful my life is.  I have the best husband, family and friends.  I was thinking if something were to happen to me, I am ok because I have so many people that love me and that I love!  Every time I fly I do think what if the plane goes down.  Well, everyone does!  Even though that thought does cross my mind,  I am looking forward to what the future has for me.  I was talking with someone about what good they saw in life and I can honestly say I can see so much good by just moving the bad cobwebs out of the way.  Yes, there have been some atrocities and there will be more in the future but if we spend all our time worrying about that, how can we enjoy life.  We most definitely should be concerned and do all in our power to spread love and bring attention to those things which are harming innocent people and our world but I will love this life on earth because it is the only one afforded to me.  I find peace when I accept the things that I cannot change and change the things that I can and know the difference.  Mmmm.  I think there is a prayer about that.  :)
Can't wait to get to Santorini!  Until then, I will watch movies, read books, listen to music and people watch!!!  Cheers to me!

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12/12/12 - Leah and Dr. Suess

Leah's pin - BSN from UNC Chapel Hill

Family attending pinning

12/12/12.  Triple number date won't happen again until January 1, 2101 -  01/01/01 - a whopping 81 years away!   There are many special days, not just ones that have unique numbers.  Sunday was a very special day in our family.  Leah graduated with a BSN from UNC-Chapel Hill.  When you graduate with a nursing degree you get pinned.  Actually, UNC's commencement is not until next Sunday which is somewhat of an inconvenience having the 2 graduation ceremonies a week a part, but Jim and I would not miss either one for the world.  We, along with Jim Jim, Mama Patsy, James, Laura, Clark, Granddaddy, Lauren, Uncle Kecky and Aunt Girlie were there to celebrate and witness Leah's pinning in Memorial Hall on UNC's campus.  The Dean of the Nursing School opened with a speech informing us that UNC's nursing school was the fourth best nursing program in the USA.  Missed being number one by one tenth of one point!   We are terribly proud that Leah is a graduate of such a fine institution!

Since graduation from college marks a new beginning, I have been thinking about Leah and what life story she will be telling in this next phase.  I am confident that she will end up in a great place - where she needs to be  - even though there will be some breath holding while waiting for that job offer!

Leah is my middle child.  Middle children are typically the peace makers and I think that kind of suits Leah.  She doesn't like drama.  She doesn't talk about people unless it is kind.   I got to thinking, "What would best describe Leah as an asset for being a nurse."  So many different descriptions - honest, kind, compassionate, intelligent, steady, intuitive, a hard worker, a quiet,    

Leah and Summer

Leah, Lauren, Alesha and Anne

effective leader - a peace maker.  Nothing ruffles her feathers.  She never toots her horn and she is always there for her friends.  In high school, her friends called her Mama Leah.  Just the other day, Summer, her nursing classmate and roommate said "Leah is like my Mama".  She always has her friends backs - still the same old Leah!  And Leah is loved!  Marta says that you are who you are when you are 5.  It's true.  When Leah was 5, I came to pick her up from her room at Kid's Place preschool.  She was sitting in Miss Pat's lap and had been crying.  Pat apologized to me and said she had to remove Leah from her friends because Alesha, Laura and Adrienne were fist fighting over who was going to sit beside Leah!  Miss Pat said that it didn't dawn on her that removing Leah from group was punishing the wrong girl!  Leah got to sit in Miss Pat's lap and get hugs which was the perfect cure for the girl who was punished for being loved by her friends! 

Leah 5 years old

Every year when Jim and I would go for parent conferences, the very first thing the teacher would say is "Everybody loves Leah".  I mean year after year, teacher after teacher - they all would say, "Everybody loves Leah.  She is friends with everyone."  Maybe that is why she was crowned homecoming queen her senior year. 

Leah and Lisa

Leah, Laura and James

College doesn't look like things have changed because on Sunday at the pinning, I met Leah's nursing professor, Lisa.  Lisa grabbed Leah and pointed to her and said "I love this girl.  I. LOVE. THIS. GIRL!"   That made this mama beam! Lisa was voted by students to give the faculty speech.  She gave a shout out to Leah in her speech (anonymously) and used the philosopher, Dr. Suess and his wisdom to give the graduates parting advice.  It was so fitting!  As Leah continues the story of her life, I thought this particular Dr. Suess quote sums up what I want to say to her!....

“You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Crunch Week

When you are in the thick of it, applying to colleges can be a full time job .  Deadlines hang over your head.  You have to juggle applications, ask teachers for recommendations, ask guidance counselors to send transcripts all the while keeping up with your school work and outside activities.  The hardest part might be trying to write essays that grab the attention of the admissions counselors.  They view thousands of well deserving students' applications so your essays can be what sets you apart from the rest.

UNC Chapel Hill Old Well

Like most UNC Chapel Hill applicants, Dawn struggled to find the best prompt to describe herself.  I could have written an essay about Dawn from every prompt given because I was the experienced outsider.  There were 5 prompts to choose from.  One of the UNC Chapel Hill's prompts was:  "Tell us about a time when you failed. How did you react? What if anything did you learn?"  Dawn did not feel she could write about this because she did not feel she had failed.  I kind of laughed to myself but I REALLY understood what she meant - for all practical purposes, she hadn't failed - she had succeeded despite all her obstacles!  Another prompt was: "Tell us about a time when you struggled to convince someone of something you believed to be right. How did the process go? What was the end result?"  Dawn's first reaction to this prompt was she was a coward for not standing up to her parents, therefore, she couldn't use that one.  I said YES you can, Dawn!  Metaphorically, you stood up to them by becoming a success!  And that is the one Dawn chose.

We made plans to meet at Burns at various times over the next week.  Dawn had been given a laptop that needed some repairs so I would bring mine with me for her to use while hers was being repaired (or so I thought it was being repaired).  Mine was an Apple.  She was a PC snob so she felt like she

Dawn taking break from essays to work on Spanish project

was using an inferior laptop.  I knew better and besides she couldn't be picky.  We spent as much time at school as we could but Dawn needed access to internet and a laptop outside of school and I couldn't go without mine, so Jim gave Dawn his laptop to use at school and home during this crunch week.

Dawn would write an essay, we would read it out loud, talk about how to make it better and Dawn would edit and check for all the details like character numbers, spell check, etc.  There must have been 10 essays or more that first week that Dawn wrote.  Most of the prompts in the NC State and common application were more direct like, tell us obstacles that you overcame.  Those were easier for Dawn to write about.  It felt like we were cramming for a college exam and she was a trooper to stick with it.

Dawn made it clear that she did not study or work on weekends.  They were for sleeping since she got little during the week.  I understood that, but being her senior year, I told her she might have to nudge a little on that strict rule.  October 15th was deadline for UNC and NC State applications which happened to fall on a Saturday.  Determined to send applications off on Friday before Saturday deadline, we spent many hours that week which included all day Thursday writing and editing.  Luckily, Thursday night was parent's night at Burns so school was open until 7:00 p.m.  We found an empty room and got busy trying to wrap up the week's work.  I went and got us take-out from Subway and Dawn worked relentlessly until we were satisfied with her essays.  Dawn submitted those 2 college applications and we checked those off the list.  It felt good!

NC State

I was emotionally exhausted after the week's work and I had fallen in love with this child.  I would leave Dawn alone to write and I would walk the halls and go to the bathroom and cry.  I ran in to June and she pulled me in to a closet and we cried together.  I wondered if Dawn knew that I was crying.  I was hoping I was performing an academy award winning performance as I would walk back in to the room she was working, trying to keep it together.  There was still a lot of work to do but we needed a well deserved break.  We said goodbye and made plans to meet the next week.

I was encouraging her to submit applications to more than 4 colleges.  She had 4 free vouchers so she felt like 4 was a good number but I told her that I would pay for the 5th, 6th, etc. if there were some colleges she was interested in.  I wanted her to have more options.  She was bucking the idea.

Warren Wilson College Farm

With UNC and NC State's applications submitted, she decided that Davidson and Warren Wilson were the other 2 she wanted to apply.  Davidson is a superb small liberal arts school that is extremely tough to get in.  A major reason Dawn chose Davidson is because they have a huge endowment and provide 100% need based scholarships.  That is very important and necessary for someone like Dawn.  Warren Wilson, as far as we could tell, did not have comparable financial aid to the other 3 schools, but it is a very unique and beautiful college that Dawn knew about, having lived in Asheville.  I told Dawn if that is where she wanted to go we would work hard to find outside scholarships but my advice to her is the same I always gave my 3 children - do not take out student loans unless there is no other option and do not get married until you are at least 25.

Davidson College

From the four schools that Dawn was applying, I felt  she had a pretty good variety - the large public research universities to small private colleges.  Yet, there was a nagging that would not go away telling me that Dawn needs to apply to Harvard.  I would tell Jim that I really thought she would get in and I was hoping she would listen to me and apply.  Part of the college application process is rejection and disappointment and that is a chance you take, but it is also a part of life.  Maybe Dawn knew that part of life all too well and wasn't interested in doing a lot of work for a "sure" disappointment.  Maybe she was just being practical Dawn and did not want to waste money on such a gamble.  I believed in her so much and I had enough experience to know she had more than a decent chance.  Her story told would convince any school to take a chance on her!