Monday, April 19, 2010

Iceland Volcanic Ash BE GONE!!!

Mary and I are supposed to be leaving for Vienna, Austria. Who would have thought that our trip to Austria could be disrupted by a volcano!? Long before Mary was even born I was dreaming of the day when I would bring my own little girl to my favorite city in the whole world! In 1999 I spent a semester in Vienna and loved just about every minute of it. Mary's middle name, Verena comes from my time spent in Vienna. I tutored the cutest little girl and her name was Verena. So there you go.

Okay back to 2010. I have been wanting to take Mary to Vienna for so long--to eat only the best gelato ever at Zanoni and Zanoni, to stroll down Kartnerstrasse, and to drink a Wiener Melange. Yummy. But I was afraid to take a small child on such a big trip all by myself. The fear only made me want to take Mary more, to prove to myself that I could do it. Heck I have had to learn to do a lot of things by myself in the last few years. So after a lot of time spent searching prices online--I finally booked our trip to Vienna. Sometimes just thinking about it would give me anxiety. What if Mary doesn't sleep on the plane? What if she keeps kicking the seat in front of her? What if she throws a huge tantrum and makes a giant scene? What if she spills her juice everywhere? What if, what if, what if? Being confined in a plane for seven or eight hours with a three year old is my biggest fear! Sounds pretty justified.

However in the last couple weeks I started rereading my guidebooks and planning out our itinerary. I planned so many things that I hadn't done before. AND I started to get really excited and getting Mary excited too. Almost every night we would read through her German dictionary. She would ask me to name all the food we are gonna eat in German. I even taught her to say Gruss Gott, ich heisse Mary, and ich bin drei jahre alt. She is so stinking cute when she says it! She began to tell everyone she knows and even strangers that we meet that she is going to Austria.

So what now? I don't know! Will my flight be cancelled? I don't know! I am lucky that I can be flexible with my travel plans, but I am all anxious and disappointed and yet trying to stay optimistic. But seriously, why couldn't my first big international mother daughter vacation go smoothly? I mean I was expecting some tantrums, whining, and break downs, but not a volcano spewing ash over Europe and disrupting all my plans! Hmmm... now who's whining? Ah well I am sure that no matter what happens Mary and I will have a blast together. I will keep you all posted.

1 comment:

Rayna said...

seriously, BE GONE!!