In 2007, at the height of my single Mom-ing it, I took the boys to Mexico.
It was an awesome trip. Well, there were a few little glitches, like Zach almost cutting his finger off in the luggage conveyor belt at the Cancun airport, and Josh getting his head stuck in the luggage cart at the airport (I was thinking “This was a really bad idea” when I was at the airport).
The best was when I heard Zach yelling from our BEACHFRONT balcony (with the beach filled with people) to the little girl on her balcony below us, “My Dad doesn’t love my Mom anymore so he’s not here – he’s at home”, in response to her yelling the question, “Where’s your Dad anyways”? I guess the people on the beach were likely wondering what the deal was with the blonde girl and the crazy boys in the Superman swimsuits anyhow.
At night, after usually some type of meltdown at dinner (talking Josh up from under the table), but the occasional lovely walk on the beach (where we’d lie to look at the stars and the boys would sing songs into their microphone sticks), we would head back to our room.
I would pop a movie in to relax after the boys went to bed.
It was on this trip that I watched, “Under a Tuscan Sun”, a must see for anyone who is going through a divorce (but has done some of the work after the divorce – you can’t still be in the puddle on the floor kind of phase).
My favourite scene was when the Italian real estate friend gave Diane Lane some pretty sound advice:
“Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew some day, the train would come”.
I loved it. I knew at that moment I was building tracks and had to keep building, despite the fact I felt like I was building in a dark tunnel, with no light at the end of it.
As the end of another year draws to a close, I have been thinking about how blessed I am and the richness that I have in my life. It dawned on me that I did build those tracks, and without me even consciously thinking about it again, there is a train that now runs on those tracks.
I am on the most beautiful, scenic, breathtaking train ride ever. Better than what I could ever have imagined. I am sharing this ride with some amazing other passengers who constantly point me to different kinds of beauty that sometimes only an innocent eye can see. I continue to build more tracks with an engineer who has a vision far beyond mine, and creativity and patience to lay down each and every track. Then, he has the wisdom to hold us all close together and sit back and enjoy the ride.
Can’t wait for the adventure to continue.
