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Published: April 9th 2013
Wiping tears away, I couldn’t handle it anymore. I was about to break down sobbing. I decided to step onto the bus and tell mom that we were going to leave, which was fine with her as well. We waived our last goodbyes as Ava and I walked away. One month has gone by at lightening speed. Mom, Ava, and I traveled to three countries (Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria) and now she was on her way to the airport to return home. It was a great, busy, hectic, and most of all memorable month.
I decided to focus on the positives. “Well Ava, now we can take lots of stairs and escalators.” That was enough to excite Ava for the day. My mom was scared of the fast, steep escalators in Prague, which are so fast and steep that the fear is completely understandable and justified. Since my favorite area in Prague that I have seen thus far is Lesser Town, I decided to make it our destination. We jumped on a tram and headed that way. It was really overcast and a little chilly. Even though we had just had breakfast, Ava wanted to sit in a coffee shop and drink hot cocoa and eat croissants with jelly. Seriously, she listed all of these desires to me several times as we walked along the cobblestone streets. We saw a really cute place with flowers on the table and comfortable chairs. So, Ava was able to have all her desires fulfilled amist a lovely ambience. I confess that I got my Kindle out of my backpack and read for a bit while Ava looked at all the paintings and talked about the people passing by the windows.
After our second breakfast, we walked all over Lesser Town and across the Charles Bridge… to find we were right in the middle of the annual half marathon. I had no idea that we were
inside the loop of the marathon while we were being tourists and I had no idea how to get
outside the loop either. There were walls and all sorts of boundaries and there were hundreds (probably thousands) of runners. It was quite the event! We finally found a place to cross and had to wait about 30 minutes for a gap between runners so we could cross the road without ruining the race. We made the best of it though. Ava and I both cheered for the runners and Ava petted every dog she could find. Once we were a healthy distance from the race, we found a subway and then got on the bus headed home.
It was obvious when we opened the door to our room that mom was gone and her bed was gone as well. Those of you who really, really know me know that I have a strong nesting instinct. I set my backpack down and immediately rearranged the room. I decided to put the two remaining beds together because Ava has been sneaking into my bed lately anyway. It seems like we have a lot more room now. Ava spent the rest of the evening painting and hanging her paintings on our walls, which are much less bare now. One could almost say our room is cozy now J We had a small dinner comprised of some of the food mom bought before she left and I thought about all the laundry and cleaning I would do the next day as I drifted off to sleep.
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Pastor Carl
non-member comment
A Tough Good-Bye
I really wasn't sure what your plans were, if you were all there for a lengthy stay, all a brief stay, or Mom heading home first. I was just at Lake Louise for a two day retreat Mon the 8th and Tues the 9th. As I left I told Geri too bad Linda wasn't home, we could say Hi. So is she home? How much longer will you two remain there on your adventure?