She sits at her computer, looking over the itinerary for the hundredth time. The room reservation with the elderly German lady in picturesque Bacharach on the Rhein; did she make it for one room or for two? The site for the website for Eilat, Israel, keeps crashing and won't let her sign on. What was it Glenn said when she mentioned staying at a youth hostel? "We're not youths, Karen." This from her brother, the eternal surfer? He's not a youth? Peter Pan has grown up? What will Wendy say?
It's T minus 13 days, and Eisenhower got the US Army to Normandy with less fuss. I am alternately calm and panic stricken. I am going to the airport four hours early so when I suddenly remember what I forgot, I can send my dear friend Michael back to my house to retrieve: my passport, my medicine, my camera, my airline ticket or whatever other item I have left out on the breakfast nook table.
Back to how we got here. Mom passed away very unexpectedly on October 1st in 2007. All of us were stunned - she was in perfect health despite her minor complaints. (Once, after gall bladder "band-aid" surgery, Mom moaned to me on the phone, "Karen, you CANNOT imagine the pain!" I replied, "Well, let me think, Mom. One band-aid for you, five C-Sections for me." "Oh," Mom muttered, "That's right. I forgot.") Glenn and I almost instantly became bonded together-just as Mom had always hoped and prayed. One year later, as we were commiserating on the phone, I said, "Let's do something really special. Mom always promised us that one day she'd take us to Europe. Let's use the last of the inheritance and go see the sights she always wanted to show us."
And as quick as you could say "Bob's your uncle" I had mapped out four weeks in Europe and two weeks in Israel. At first, I kept pestering Glenn with my ideas, asking for his opinion. After a while he finally said to me, "Karen, you're the tour guide and you're in charge. All I care about is the Churchill Room, the cathedral in Chartres and the Sistine Chapel."
Should I tell him I've already booked all three on our trip?
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