Sleepless in San Diego

My trip is rapidly approaching! I'm in the final countdown. (Insert famous keyboard riff here)

I just googled "The Final Countdown", a song you often hear in sports arenas or movie montages, and ironically, it was recorded by a band named Europe and was released the year I was born! Crazy coincidence or is this voyage really meant to be? Moreover, the lyrics were inspired by David Bowie's hit "Space Oddity." How different is Major Tom's launch into the unknown from my journey  to a foreign land? It was written in the stars!

I am mildly delirious-- I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep this whole week. I lay in bed and find myself counting sheep in french. I mentally pack and unpack my backpack, deciding whether or not I really need that fourth dress and how many pairs of socks I should bring. I check off to-do lists of what else I need and create ones of what I must see-- only to forget my invisible itinerary in the morning. It's making me anxious, and literally keeps me up at night, trying to imagine the sheer magnitude of the antiquities that I am about to see. La Sagrada Familia Chapel. The Roman Colosseum. Le Duomo. Ponte Vecchio.  Michelangelo's David. The Rialto Bridge. The Eiffel Tower!! My high school government teacher once told the class, "You sleep when you die. Life is for living." Good words of advice for Seniors on our last day of school. They have always stuck with me.  

On Saturday, I leave sunny San Diego for Los Angeles and then next stop, Europe. A hop, skip and a jump, as well as a twelve hour flight over the pond, and I will arrive in Spain. My upcoming three weeks will be full of memories "of a lifetime". As we know, this phrase makes me uncomfortable, but there is validity to this statement. I feel that as we age, we knit together the fabric our experiences to create a quilt of life. Threads of our years interlace into textiles and each square is woven together to leave us with a covering of deep satisfaction. A blanket teeming with love and bliss. So warm that we may snuggle underneath knowing that we led a successful and fulfilling life. Only then, are we ready for some rest.