Ms. Marion, a great math teacher, requires the kids to write each month about math. Their projects, their grade, their struggles. She let M-E write about Venice.
As parents, we are supposed to respond. This is April's Reflection.
People tell you that Venice has no streets but you donÂ’t really believe it until you see it with your own eyes. It becomes more apparent when you see the FedEx, milk and McDonaldÂ’s delivery boats float down the canal. Then you completely understand that there are not roads just canals. Whitney and I have been there before, but only on a day trip when we went to Germany.
We went on a Make-a-Wish trip. This Make-a-Wish chapter has never done a wish to just Venice. For their first time, they did a great job.
They flew us from Seattle to Philadelphia to Frankfurt Germany and then to Venice. Where we took a boat to the actual city of Venice. We left Seattle at 6:30 a.m on the 24th and arrived in Venice on the 25th about 11:00 a.m. We got to the apartment around 2:00 p.m. because Ruth lost her luggage and it took a while to report the problem. Vickie, a friend of ours, met us in Venice and stayed with us at the apartment. She helped us stay awake until night time. By the time we did go to bed, we had stayed up for a total of 36 hours. We slept like logs that night.
The next days were filled with shopping and touring. We went to big and small churches. You could not go 5 muntues without running into a church. We went to the Academia and the Guggenheim to look at the different kinds of art work. The artist used many techniques including sand with acrylics. We all concluded that doing the sand piece messed up the brushes.
It would not be a trip to Italy without having gelato every day. The 5 of us have become very good at telling what gelato is very good and what isnÂ’t. Whitney and I even have our favorite gelato place. The guy that works there is very generous with the scoops. Also every day we would sit down for cappuccinos or something to drink when we would get tired. It was a great way to see the city and relax at the same time.
I rarely felt like a tourist. I only did when we got lost, which was not a lot. We considered ourselves half tourist since we lived in an apartment for 10 days and knew how everything worked. We loved to wander our way through cool alleys, over interesting bridges and of course shopped on the way.
One day when we were there, there was a protest. Instead of walking up and down the streets they were in boats holding picket signs, riding up the Grand Canal. The police in their boats were there as well making sure that people did not get out of hand. It was interesting seeing this side of the Venetians.
The whole trip when so fast that it felt like a dream, a really great dream. Venice was a place I did not have to worry about homework or any of the stressful things that happen in Seattle. It was fun to relax in our world and explore it. We laughed every day and enjoyed every moment of it. It felt good to be normal again and to share it with Whitney, Vickie, Ruth and my mom. The Venice trip was a trip of a lifetime and I am glad I picked it as my Wish.
MomÂ’s Response:
I remember the moment she picked Venice. It came from no where. It was out of the blue. She had a first wish all worked out. It was denied. Oprah does not do Wishes. She was asked for a second wish and she simply said " I want to go to Venice again and live like a real person. I want to take Ruth and Whitney"
We went, we saw, we did. It was so much fun to watch her enjoy experience. She loved the people, the place, the food, the shops, the things to find, the exploration. We were so relaxed and so able to leave the last couple of years behind. It gave us a place to be so far way from Seattle and so foreign that there were no memories of the bad times. Only a place to create good time memories.
What a gift this trip was. I have not way to explain how wonderful it was. It made us realize that there will be a life beyond Leukemia.
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