Home again...
The Queen made it home from Peru today. I picked her up from the airport and from the moment she got into the car until the moment I dropped her off at her dorm, she talked about her trip.
She talked about little monkeys holding on to a girls hair while she was out playing and she talked about the boats she rode on and the hostels (yes, hostel, not hotels) and the hammock that she slept a lot of the time. She talked about testing the water and how cool that was. Then she told me of the water cycle in Peru and how the sewage goes into the rivers and that is that. She talked about being profiled because of the blond hair and blue eyes and how one night, she was turned away from a hotel strictly because of how she looks.
When she told me of her visit to the Science and Technology museum in Lima, that was it. I had heard enough. I guess, she and her traveling partner that lives in Peru were taking a tour. At one point, the tour guide was asking them if they were afraid of something (in Spanish, of course) and Christie assumed the other girl heard the word and the other girl assumed Christie heard it so they both said no. They were taken into a room with fresh cadavers and embryos in buckets. She said they stood there not knowing what to do while walking around looking at these bodies with their guts on the table. I just had to laugh...only Christie Lou could handle something like this and not run out puking.
After that story, I told her she might have to drink to get past the trip. You know me, nothing a few glasses of wine won't fix!
I purposely didn't want to know too much about the trip before she left. I knew I would worry knowing the little I did, but when she was filling in the blanks, I swear it's a miracle she is home. What a trip for a 21 year old, huh?
I remember when I graduated from nursing school and me and a few buddies decided to go to Europe. I told my mother we were doing it and she said, "You're not going backpacking around Europe like some hippie" and I laughed and didn't say a word but in my head, I thought..."watch me, you old bag!" So a month later, I got on a plane to Iceland and then to Luxembourg...the cheapest flight we could find, and did three weeks in Europe. It was fun, scary and liberating. I called home from Rome and my mother refused to talk to me because when I told her where I was, she hung up. Now, when I am looking hard at 50, I get it, but then...I did not.
I guess my point is, I had to trust that the Queen would be okay and was making good decisions and hope that everything would be okay. Honestly, there wasn't anything I could do to stop her and if I had said no, she would have gone anyway but would have been way more polite than I was back then.
We got to her dorm and called her brother to see if he wanted to have lunch with us. Of course he did, so he rode his long board over to the Subway and we got sandwiches. The whole time, they were talking and looking at pictures and eating. I am not sure they noticed I was there but I did buy the lunch.
I sat there with my turkey sandwich thinking...this daughter of mine has some big "you know whats" to go to Peru by herself and do what she did. So much so, that the customs guy asked if she was alone and then told her she was really brave. Glad I didn't know you had to be brave to go to Peru two weeks ago...
We finished lunch and Mac rushed to his spanish class across campus on his long board with his beautiful new pierced ears...talk about looking like a hippie! The Queen went back to her dorm to take a shower and get ready for the next adventure. She had an appointment to interview for drum major for the Golden Buffalo Marching band next year.
Hopefully, everything will work out the way it's supposed to right? I mean, it has so far, right? I guess we just gotta trust and hope for the best...
We'll tawk tomorrow,
I love you all,
Terry
She talked about little monkeys holding on to a girls hair while she was out playing and she talked about the boats she rode on and the hostels (yes, hostel, not hotels) and the hammock that she slept a lot of the time. She talked about testing the water and how cool that was. Then she told me of the water cycle in Peru and how the sewage goes into the rivers and that is that. She talked about being profiled because of the blond hair and blue eyes and how one night, she was turned away from a hotel strictly because of how she looks.
When she told me of her visit to the Science and Technology museum in Lima, that was it. I had heard enough. I guess, she and her traveling partner that lives in Peru were taking a tour. At one point, the tour guide was asking them if they were afraid of something (in Spanish, of course) and Christie assumed the other girl heard the word and the other girl assumed Christie heard it so they both said no. They were taken into a room with fresh cadavers and embryos in buckets. She said they stood there not knowing what to do while walking around looking at these bodies with their guts on the table. I just had to laugh...only Christie Lou could handle something like this and not run out puking.
After that story, I told her she might have to drink to get past the trip. You know me, nothing a few glasses of wine won't fix!
I purposely didn't want to know too much about the trip before she left. I knew I would worry knowing the little I did, but when she was filling in the blanks, I swear it's a miracle she is home. What a trip for a 21 year old, huh?
I remember when I graduated from nursing school and me and a few buddies decided to go to Europe. I told my mother we were doing it and she said, "You're not going backpacking around Europe like some hippie" and I laughed and didn't say a word but in my head, I thought..."watch me, you old bag!" So a month later, I got on a plane to Iceland and then to Luxembourg...the cheapest flight we could find, and did three weeks in Europe. It was fun, scary and liberating. I called home from Rome and my mother refused to talk to me because when I told her where I was, she hung up. Now, when I am looking hard at 50, I get it, but then...I did not.
I guess my point is, I had to trust that the Queen would be okay and was making good decisions and hope that everything would be okay. Honestly, there wasn't anything I could do to stop her and if I had said no, she would have gone anyway but would have been way more polite than I was back then.
We got to her dorm and called her brother to see if he wanted to have lunch with us. Of course he did, so he rode his long board over to the Subway and we got sandwiches. The whole time, they were talking and looking at pictures and eating. I am not sure they noticed I was there but I did buy the lunch.
I sat there with my turkey sandwich thinking...this daughter of mine has some big "you know whats" to go to Peru by herself and do what she did. So much so, that the customs guy asked if she was alone and then told her she was really brave. Glad I didn't know you had to be brave to go to Peru two weeks ago...
We finished lunch and Mac rushed to his spanish class across campus on his long board with his beautiful new pierced ears...talk about looking like a hippie! The Queen went back to her dorm to take a shower and get ready for the next adventure. She had an appointment to interview for drum major for the Golden Buffalo Marching band next year.
Hopefully, everything will work out the way it's supposed to right? I mean, it has so far, right? I guess we just gotta trust and hope for the best...
We'll tawk tomorrow,
I love you all,
Terry
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