If I Had Never Known Them, I Wouldn't Miss Them

A younger sibling who shall remain unnamed once bemoaned the fact that "everyone else got all the good stuff" within the context of wanting to be an only child. My mom replied, "but think of how lonely it would be without your siblings?" With a measure of cold calculation, s/he replied immediately, "but if I'd never known them, I wouldn't miss them."

Last week, I had one of those moments. I had some good old fashioned “only child” time traipsing across Greece with my mom and dad. I’ll try hard not to resent my siblings when I see them next.

Highlights from my 4 days of being an only child?

Hands-on learning (translation: being told “no poses” in front of the Zeus statue, getting kicked off a column on the Acropolis, jumping two ropes and climbing a ledge to see the dolphin mural at Knossos, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knossos):





Taking an overnight ferry to Crete – watching the Athens skyline disappear and then waking up in total panic as the boat started rocking with great intensity. Sure that I was on the Titanic 2 and when I asked my dad what was going on, the former Navy
in him said, “it’s just a wave hitting the side of the boat. It’s fine.” And then he went back to sleep. When I went out on the deck to see what kind of “wave” rolled a ferry big enough to transport semis, I was nearly blown off, which made me wonder, “which is worse, to be blown overboard or sucked under when the boat rolled?”

All the gelato a girl can eat, and then some. And 3 square Greek salads a day…


As the Kearl Family culture drop-out, receiving much needed 1:1 tutoring in Greek art, history, language, culture from Professor Kearl:

THE LIONS GATE! We made it to Mycenae, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycenae,13 minutes before it closed and some sweet talking on my mom’s part allowed us access (yes, they were trying to close early - Greece isn’t exactly leading the modern world in convenience and customer service)…

Realizing that the acoustics in the Epidauros theater are AS good as they claim to be when my mom made a joke about my picture taking habits to my dad from about 100 feet away and I heard…

Wandering through the same neighborhood Mom and Dad lived in 35 years ago: their apartment was still there, but the favorite gyros restaurant? Replaced by McDonalds...

Getting attacked by peacocks at Knossos, one of the top 5 scares of my life...before you mock, have YOU ever had a bird that spans 5 feet fly at your head???

Finding out that the Parthenon is a building ON the Acropolis (please reference earlier comment about being the "culture drop-out"...)

While the sights, sounds, smells were a wonderful compliment to four days of Mom/Dad/Rachel time, I could have been in Omaha and felt the same at the end of the week. Loves to Mom and Dad and a week of adventures, conversations about this, that and everything in between, more than a few good laughs, and some much appreciated/needed re-focusing after 2 months in my crazy/fake Abu Dhabi life.

I think maybe you never really get too old to be a kid and have parents love on you.