Thursday, August 19, 2010

Brief Encounters

I was SUPPOSED to be flying home from Madrid today.  Change of plans.  I've been home almost two weeks.

As Eat Pray Love hits theatres I pull the plug on a trip that I've been planning for the last year.

Know what?  I'm ecstatically happy waking up in my own bed.  I go into MY bathroom and do the happy dance because there are no monster sized roaches or other people's toe jam and pubic hair.

I think I've outgrown the youth hostel life style.  I have not gotten old, I've just evolved.

At lunch today I started thinking about all the people I met on the road.  Men and women that in a moment became my best friends, then poof, are gone forever.  Brief encounters, a gift from the universe.

These past five weeks have been filled with some pretty interesting people.

A 76 year-old backpacker stranded at a youth hostel in Nice because he crashed his motorcycle.  I hope he's back safe in Australia. 

Sally, the physical therapist from England just traveling around living a wild crazy moment before going back to her reality where she will worry if she's getting too old to have a child. 

Eliseau, my tapas partner in Madrid.  I think I hurt his feelings, but he should've listened when I told him I have a boyfriend.

Ryse, Sarah, Gregg, and Nate...ultimate backpackers.  All four so smart and so talented.  They will have great stories for their grandchildren.  I admire their life, but couldn't live it.  Sleeping in a tent in a road side campsite...LOL...I couldn't handle a hostel for six weeks.

Eric and Karen, married for over 30 years, telling me that it is completely normal for me to miss my guy here in the states.  Teaching me that true love means sharing a life not living separately.

Enrique, Michel, Amilio, and the others coming to life as they learned English.  A beautiful sight.

Wine touring in Bordeaux with Irina.  She warned me about Ryan Air's baggage weight limit.  I payed out the ass on my way to Majorca. I should've listened to Irina.

Just a few of many, many conversations I had on this journey.  This is what I enjoyed the most; these brief encounters.  Really nice people, plus a couple of ass wipes.

Oscar getting too touchy feely.  Pushing him away wanting to kick his head in.  Get a freakin' life, dude.  Do you think for a second I would even consider you?

The multitudes of SCNF workers in France.  Your helpfulness to an untraveled American marvels the mind.  I hope you come to America, get lost, and try to get directions from someone YOU don't understand.  Maybe you will receive the same unkind smirks you gave to me.

I was very fortunate on this journey.  These were not just chance meetings.  I think people come into our lives for a reason.  Even if it is just a moment. 

These people touched my life in those moments, and hopefully I touched theirs in some way.  Now that I'm home I can reflect on the significance of those meetings.  Believe me, there were times I would've lost my mind completely without the people I met. 

Brief encounters in my heart forever...

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