the end is only the beginning

Sooo, we arrived in Larissa late that night, and had a late dinner (spaghetti! salad!), and hit the sack a little earlier than the night before, although "Elaine" did make an appearance, and was her usual hit. We got on the road at about 8:00, and traveled all day to Athens. After checking back into our first home at Hotel Acropol, we hit the metro and visited the neighborhood known as La Plaka, where there are many shops and a nice square, just below the Acropolis. It was fun to do some last minute shopping, watch a street fight between two women, meet a Greek fella who went to the University of Michigan and thus was SO excited to practice his cool American ways, and also to cheer on our fellow traveler Willie who played his guitar in the square and gathered a few Euro from passers-by. That evening we had one last communal dinner and devotion time, which was lovely. The next morning we had a 9:00 a.m. bus trip (*sigh* and farewell to Dimitris) to the airport, where we discovered that our flight to JFK would be delayed at least 2 1/2 hours. Most people groaned with the realization that their connecting flights to their various locations would be missed, but most stayed positive with the knowledge that Delta (man, those people LOVE to fly - and it shows!) would be working on these things and taking care of making other arrangements while we were in the air over the Atlantic for 10 hours. We finally left at 3 p.m. Athens time, and landed at JFK at 6:20 or so. By the time we got past passport control, picked up our bags, went through customs, dropped our bags back off to the connecting flights, went upstairs, and were going through security again, it was about 7:35, and my flight (along with Lindsay) was being announced for its final boarding call! Lindsay took off and ran, and after I tied my shoes I did the same, through a long passageway to another terminal where the gate was located. As I took my seat on the plane, I was recalling the poor Marathon runner who collapsed and died after delivering his message to the people of Athens. (note to self: move more!) After all that, we landed safely in Tampa at about 11:20, met by my newly bearded dear husband, and I was home by midnight. Chad greeted me on the front walk and I quickly went in to hug my little man (Henry, not Chad).
This was the experience of a lifetime! I'm so grateful that I was able to go, and won't soon forget it. Here's a shout-out to my gal, Enuma.com, and my peeps Michele, Dave, and Lindsay... and to all of you on the trip I haven't called by name, be well, and here's to Loula!