Gift to grandkids cannot be wrapped
- December
- 28
8:37 pm Live Literature
The next to travel was Dylan, who went to Greece with me and other friends and sailed the Aegean on a small boat for 10 days. We stopped at island harbors, visited Delphi, Mycenae and Athens, and he heard all the myths and stories of the ancient Greeks along the way. Coming home, we were stranded in Paris overnight. It seemed awful at the time, but now we laugh and say, “We’ll always have Paris.” Last summer Zack and Harry went with me to Costa Rica. They are adventurous youths who were excited about white-water rafting, flying over the top of the rainforests pinned to a zipline (similar to a clothesline), driving ATVs through the jungles and forests. We went to a small hotel on the Pacific Coast. I thought while they were doing their manly teen stuff, I could recline by the pool with a good book and, who knows, maybe even a charming older gentleman? However, the boys found themselves in a totally different world, a strange culture, a foreign language. They froze. They were culture-shocked, homesick, disoriented, and worse than that, unplugged. No computer! No e-mail! No cell phone! So I put my book away, said goodbye to the theoretical older gentleman, and went with them on their adventures. Yes, I went down 7 miles of rocky waterfalls in a rubber raft; I actually drove an ATV through the rains, the rivers and jungles; and yes, I really did pin myself to a clothesline and sail across the tops of the rainforest. By the end of our 10 days there, the boys were playing pool nightly with students from the area, had made a few friends and were beginning to use some Spanish with the hotel staff. Nos divertimos mucho! Even Gramsy. The twins, Martin and Joanna, are only12, but they’re already planning. He wants to see the Battlefields of Normandy. She wants to see the Eiffel Tower and Paris, and I can hardly wait! Such a gift I have given myself! Helen Parramore retired as a professor of humanities from Valencia Community College. She lives in St. Petersburg.
Tags: aeg, day, different world, jungle, LiveRelated posts
