I've learned how to slow down and relax. I used to do all those little things that "should" be done, and do them right now. Now I know they can wait. A nice day is a great excuse not to clean the house. So is painting with the kids, going to the beach, taking a bike ride and just about anything enjoyable. The house will still be there and it'll be just as dirty. But it sure can wait.
I've learned an amazing appreciation for architecture, and I can find beauty in the strangest places. I found a set of rusty stairs downtown Calgary and they made the nicest picture. Anything wrought iron, almost anything that is half destroyed. A house that was abandoned and had a tree growing through it. I've learned to just take a look around me and enjoy what I see and where I am.
I've learned that walking and riding a bike to do errands is so much more enjoyable. I came home from Europe this year with a desperate need for a bike basket. I finally found one last week and I have used it every day since. We've ridden our bikes to play soccer at the park, we took them to the store and got slurpees, and yesterday, we even took the bikes to Payless and bought shoes. That bike basket is the best purchase I have made in ages!
I've learned that ice cream is not my greatest vice - Gelato is! Same with Hungarian food. I love food, I love dessert. I may be a big girl because of it, but at least I stay away from drugs and I'm not an alcoholic. Besides, one day my weight might save me, you never know. So I'll stick with my Gelato and Hungarian food and keep off the drugs!
I've gone from a girl who hides in the shade in shorts to a woman who can bare most of it in the blazing hot sun, and love every second of. I never thought I was the type of girl to wear a bikini, and now I own and wear several of them. I've even gone topless at many beaches in Europe. They don't care, so I figured, why should I? I am never the heaviest girl on the beach, and certainly not the heaviest in a bikini. I wish Canadians could let go of some of their inhibitions and judgements and just be happy with who they are, and what they look like.
Those are just the things I can remember right now. I was watching a movie with my daughter last night and I heard a line in a movie that I wanted to boo at. The mother in the movie told her daughter that Europe is not magic and it cannot change you. Well I say she is wrong. Six years ago I was a very different person. The changes haven't all been because of Europe, but a lot of them are. And the things I learn over there carry on into my life at home. Europe is magic, and it does change you. It changes the way you look at things and way you look at yourself, but only if you let it. I'm glad I let it change me, I've never been happier than I am right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment