I have always felt like there is no better way to say "I love you" than with a homemade lunch. When I was little, my mom would sometimes even write a little love note and put it in with my lunch at school. Yesterday Derek and I started off for a long journey to Venice where he will be speaking this week at a conference. Since we flew out of Salt Lake, we took advantage of the opportunity to stay with our parents for conference before leaving. Being the wonderful hostess that she is, my Mom packed some food for our journey; 2 sandwiches with Dads famous bread, a yogurt, , 2 apples and 2 oranges. Since Derek had eaten, I had both sandwiches, the yogurt and an apple on the way to the airport. We had planned a long layover in Spain so that we could visit the Prado and see some of Derek's favorite pieces there. Due to bad weather we didn´t have as much time there as we had hoped. Another problem was that the ATMs there did not accept our visa debit card which was our only way to buy anything. Fortunately Derek had some cash but only about 30 dollars which gave us a full 23 Euros for a day in Spain. Knowing that our priority was to see the Prado we went straight there as we had already lost time trying to pull out money. Resurrecting my Spanish skills I explained that Derek is a professor which gave him free admission, my ticket inside was 8 Euros. The Prado was awesome. their crowning piece is "Las Meninas" by Velazquez. After the Prado we rushed back to the airport where we used 2 more Euros to send an e-mail to our bank telling them of our predicament. We had a few Euros left but didn't dare buy any food in case we would need our last Euros in Venice (should the card not work there). I pulled my Mom's sack from my bag and ate one of the oranges, half of a granola bar and some crackers from the plane, offering the other orange and 1/2 of granola bar to Derek. I'm not sure what I would have done without that food. I was looking forward to the plane where I could at least get something to drink. As it turned out that airline charged for everything even the drinks, we would not be getting any this time. When we landed in Italy we were thrilled to find that our Visa worked in their ATMs, but we were in such a rush to get to our boat to Venice that we didn't take time to eat. After missing our boat by only 5 minutes we had to stay at the dock and wait for the next one to come which took a very long time. Once again I thankfully turned to the final apple in the sack lovingly gifted to me 3 countries and many hours before. Derek and I split the apple which sustained us until we reached Venice (where incidentally everything was closed....but that is another story). At the beginning of the day, I nearly declined the food offered by my Mom imagining a smashed banana at the bottom of my bag after a long journey. How often do we take for granted the simple gifts that are offered us or forget to give due gratitude for the service rendered to us by those we love? Thanks for feeding me Mom physically, spiritually and emotionally!
p.s. Venice is the most amazing place. we are loving every moment here....stay tuned for our travel update!
