Chenille: A Bird's-Eye View from Under the Bed: October 2015

I don't think that as a child I was alone in having tremendous fear that my parents would die. I remember many nights lying in the darkness under my chenille bedspread, gripped by the terrifying thought that something could happen to Mommy and Daddy, leaving me a wretched orphan.

Apparently I have passed this delightful sense of angst on to my daughter, Melanie. And she has maintained at least some of it well into adulthood. She took me white-water rafting about eighteen years ago. I had a great time. I think she did too, although through most of the trip, she was certain that I would bounce out of the raft and either drown or be ground to a nub by the rocks. In any case, DEAD. When I went on a cruise to Alaska this summer, she made me promise not to fall off the ship. That was not in my plans, and I think that when one does fall off of a cruise ship : a) huge amounts of alcohol are involved; b) a lover or spouse has been enraged to the point of committing murder; c) the ship has sailed into a massive typhoon.

My recent trip to Sweden would be the longest adventurous foray of my life, and was far away, to boot. So, before I left, Melanie wasted no opportunities to remind me that I was required to text her every day to assure her that I was not DEAD. I do love that child, so of course, I agreed to keep her mind at ease. I made calculations (I had to count backwards on my watch every day to do it! Mental math is not my forte!) to account for the nine hour time difference and make sure that I could advise her of my continued existence on a regular basis and at a convenient time. I'm such a good mommy!

Thus began

The Great International Texting Adventure!

Text Message Thu, Sep 17, 7:47 AM pst

We are safe in Goteberg!

Fri, Sep 18, 10:18 AM pst

Now in Stockholm after great train ride. Ready for pj's!

Sat, Sep 19, 2:12 PM pst

Spent the day in Stockholm touring on foot, by bus, and by boat. Such a beautiful and fascinating city--and so old! Will start our road trip tomorrow. Hope all is well at home. Not much luck with wi-fi here.

A bit later later, around midnight, I was asleep when my phone loudly alerted me to an incoming text.

I'm SO sorry! You have texted the wrong number. But do you want to know something frighteningly random and coincidental? I think I know who this is....:-)
Marilyn Souza, second grade teacher extraordinaire and fabulous world traveler!?!?

iMessage

Good grief! Who have I been texting???? !
Not Delivered

Good grief! Who have I been texting???
Sent as Text Message

iMessage

This is Shawna Yaple. The funny thing is I have been thoroughly and vicariously enjoying your FB posts about your trip! And that's when I started receiving your texts. And then it dawned on me! By George, It's Mrs. Souza!

You may have noticed the one-sided nature of my conversation with Melanie, reassuring her that I was still among the living. Not hearing a word from her since my arrival in Sweden had my own head spinning thoughts of doom and death. Perhaps Jim had kicked the bucket in my absence, and Melanie didn't want to tell me about it, knowing that would cast quite a pall on my jaunt. I had emailed Jim to see if he also continued to live, but received no reply. My son hadn't been in contact since the night before I left San Francisco, either, so I feared a massive conspiracy involving anyone who was left alive in my family while I traveled the world.

I must admit that when I received the text message from Shawna, I was quite taken aback. I had taught three of her four children, and had known her for many years. But, aside from maybe scheduling a parent-teacher conference with her, I'd never called her or texted her, and didn't even have her phone number. It seems that when setting up my kids' "from Sweden" phone numbers, I had transposed a couple of digits in Melanie's number. I still hadn't memorized her new cell phone number, so I guess it didn't register in my jet-lagged and generally addled brain. And what are the odds that the number I mistakenly entered into my contacts belonged to someone I actually knew, and who was following my adventures on Facebook? A happy little social media miracle, in my book!

And yet there was more to come in my International Blogging Adventure. My last text of the night pretty well wraps it all up.

Good grief again, Shawna! This is so weird! My phone has lost its mind here in Sweden! I can't shut off the ringtones on my phone and my travel buddy is asleep. I've come into the bathroom to try to set a quieter ringtone. Failed at that, too, so now a bunch of different ringtones keep going off at full volume and playing forever, even tho I have the phone set on mute! They won't stop! I think the plane I was on over here took and unscheduled detour into the Twilight Zone. My daughter told me to text her every day so that she would know I wasn't dead. She's probably ticked off at me by now. Either that, or she's putting tags on all my belongings for dispersal to my loved ones! I hope she at least saw my Facebook posts when I had wi-fi!
Sent as Text Message

Text Message

Sounds like an amazing adventure in every way! I'll tell Mel we talked, and that you're alive, if I see her!

Safe Travels!

Well, there you have it all, minus a few emojis, which don't format well on my blog. I can definitely see where Melanie got her "Oh, my God! Mom is Dead!" disorder. Though as adults, we have all had ample experiences that demonstrate the incredible randomness of life's fortunes. Some are indeed devastating. Fortunately, most of those random connections and convolutions are benign. And some, like randomly connecting across a continent and an ocean with Shawna Yaple instead of my daughter, strike me as nothing less than perfectly wondrous, miraculous, delightful serendipity!

Adventures in Videography!

To say I am a novice international traveler is an understatement. In sixty-six years I have left the US for a week in Mexico when I was eighteen, and about a week total in Canada. So, traveling to Europe was quite the big deal for me, and of course I wanted to capture large swaths of the journey on film and video for later scrapbooking and viewing. At the same time, I didn't want to spend so much time peering through a camera lens that I lost the moments of actually being there!

I took a few photos in Goteberg, which was our first stop on our way to Stockholm where we would begin a week long driving tour of central Sweden. My high school friend Carla had won round trip plane tickets for two and was able to arrange a direct flight from San Francisco to Copenhagen, and then on to Goteberg. Since our tour's departure was from Stockholm, we both decided that it would be fun to try the high speed train to cross the country and would allow us to really see the Swedish countryside.

We were not disappointed. Leaving Goteberg, we were quickly barreling through the most gorgeous landscapes. Lush and verdant, the country is a vision of forest, farmland, and sparkling lakes, all mixed and mingled together. Having left California, which, due to four years of drought, was brown, tinder-dry, and on fire, the sight of such greenery was indeed a treat to behold. Also, California's forests and farms are mostly in different regions or at least elevations, so seeing fields of freshly harvested hay and other grains right in the midst of forests of both evergreens and deciduous trees, already beginning to don autumn colors, was new and exciting to me.

I marveled that nearly every home, barn, shed, outbuilding, for the two hundred mile trip was painted the exact same shade of deep brick red, with white trim. Set against the deep greens of the grasses, trees, and bushes, the contrast of the red homes is very appealing. I knew there had to be a reason for the red buildings everywhere, and I looked forward to finding out what lay behind this uniformity that stretched mile after mile.

The train was amazingly smooth-riding and quiet, allowing me to snap some pretty decent photos from my iPhone. Carla had dozed off, so I spent my time peering out the windows, wondering what delights awaited me. Suddenly it dawned on me that I could video the countryside as we sped by, giving both a panorama of the many sights and a sense of how quickly we were zipping along. I took a quick trial video to see if it would be too blurry, and discovered that it worked just fine, so I was ready to VIDEO TAPE SWEDEN! I got nice and comfy, steadied my hand, and began to film.

I couldn't believe my good luck and timing, as we zoomed past homes, barns, corrals, and commercial areas. I captured horses, cows, and sheep grazing on the emerald green carpet that lay in front of dazzling waterways. I was surprised to see windmills of varying design, but all looking like they had been operating for many, many years. What a perfect first glimpse of the country that is Sweden! And, as my phone camera did all the work, I just sat there holding it while the world outside my window rolled by. I could film and be present! Cool!

Imagine my surprise when I swiped the play icon on my phone, and learned, much to my chagrin, that I had spent the entire time filming my own headband! Guess I'd accidentally put the camera in selfie mode. I burst out laughing, waking Carla up. She was highly amused. I was once again reminded why I will never become too cocky or swell-headed--the all too frequent reminders of my own ineptness!

Herewith is "Marilyn's Amazing Video of the Swedish Countryside!" I have pared it down to a mere 30 seconds or so from the original four minute study of my head and its adornment. I even added some ABBA! Behold the wonder of my cinematic talent!

Alas, there is a sad ending to this tale, in addition to once again proving myself to be world-class fool. The next day, unbeknownst to me, while touring Stockholm by bus, by boat, and on foot, the self-same headband, my favorite, by the way, was completely blown off my head in one of the many gusty blasts of Baltic wind. Luckily I have this nifty video to remember it by!