Dancing Under the Parthenon After Midnight......

was the ending of a long day. Saying "yes" to all life offers is the beginning.

How many of us go through life wanting and waiting for happiness to fall upon us, as if Glinda will wave her majic wand and grant our wish. I sometimes refer to this phenomana as "living my life on pause." Sometimes pausing is a good thing; it allows our soul to rest and our spirit to gather clarity on "what next." Waiting to live life on the other hand is tragic. What if this is our last moment on earth.

For me, I ask each morning that I live my life with intention and choice, standing in my dignity and grace (which, I often fall short of). I want to live so that I allow my magnificience and "god" given gifts to bring wellness, joy and laughter into my life, my children's lives, the lives of my family, and to all others that I touch directly and indirectly. As I go through the streets of Athens, we laugh heartily as I politely say "no thank-you" to each peddlar who approaches. How can I not. I speak to the strangers who approach me as if they are offering a gift, not soliciting my wallet.

Today was another day filled with "awe" as I exhaled deep sighs at almost every turn. I shook my head in disbelief. Morning breakfast of greek yogurt and can peaches with drizzled honey touched my tastebuds as if it were my first meal. I savored it as if it might be my last. Every bite was witnessed by the greatness of the Acropolis.

We began the day walking along Adriano to enter into the path to the Acropolis. Our tour was proudly led by Ginny with her trusted companion "Rick" (as in Rick Steves). We wondered through onto Mars Hill (what has been the center of Athens since reported time - 680 BC - the buildings were constructed in 450 BC)) to walk in the footsteps of St. Paul and through the Beule Gate into the Propylae. Yes, here, the world could be ruled. As we circled around the Acropolis we learned stories of architectual genius, devotion to the Gods, the heartache of destruction that mankind can leave in its path and how one woman, Athenia, Goddess of Wisdom, could inspire a civilization. One of my favorite sites, the ladies as I refer to them as, Caryatids, stood tall and graceful and in their dedication and devotion could carry the weight of the Erechtheion. We walked and walked and laughed and laughed.

We paused for lunch upon another rooftop, dining on a traditional greek salad before transitioning from one world to the next. As we returned to the present archtecture of the Acropolis Museum, with its glass floors, that allowed us to witness the excavation that continues to uncover our past, we stood within a breaths distance from a world that I can't fully comprehend. Again I am reminded of how the conflict between men permeates all that we see. Many of the statues of the Pediment (the triangular peek of the Parthenon) had been carried away by conquerors and the greedy English. What was displayed, however, was enough to appeciate the full grandeur of a building that took less than 10 years to complete and was done by paid laborers.

At the end of this, every cell craves a cup of good greek coffee sitting on the Plaka, side by side, to people watch. After hours of strolling and shopping we return to our room. After a quick shower and change we return to the steps of the Plaka to dine on yet another rooftop just feet below the Parthenon walls. How quickly we find ourselves on "Greek" time, dining at 10pm on fried cheese and Mousaka. Our exhaustion is expressed by actually asking our waiter, "What is the name of this restaurant?" Fortunately, it actually was the Psaras, the one we set out to find.

One would think that returning to our hotel and collapsing at midnight would be in order. While Ginny fell asleep (except to be awoken by my inability to open the door), my second wind allowed me to pack (so that I could write this post), sketch, read about our next destination and say goodnight to our rooftop view. All I can say is I ended the day dancing under the light of the Parthenon after midnight.......