Athens

                       

1st November 2020

Having studied Ancient Greek History for my final years at school you can imagine the joy I felt looking at the Acropolis for the first time. So many parts of this city are worth sitting and calmly appreciating their beauty and the story they quietly tell. The Parthenon, the food, the sweaty men on the beach in the hot sun slamming the paddle ball, it all felt surreal.

Wevisited all the historical sites that were open and had the luxury of no lining up, thanks covid. Wandered the cobbled lanes, hiked to the top of the cities highest trail and swam in the Mediterranean. It felt like a lifetime since water had touched my body like this, forever never ending blue, you can see the bottom and feel the tiredness seep out of you. Keeley was starting to morph slowly, very slowly into the amazing girl she deserves to be. When she pulled off her snorkel mask it ripped her nose ring out and blood flowed down her face. She laughed, through the ring which was attached into the water and went back down to explore, I was relieved to see her lose it, it had bad memories attached.

We lived every minute in the moment without thinking about the next, dangerous but peaceful. We wandered aimlessly chatting to the locals, smelling the world they live in and ate BLT’s on the beach as the sun went down. I had waited 20 years to get to Greece, it was going to be my magic, the place I came and everything fell into place, maybe even fall in love. This adventure was, after all half for Keeley and half because I hadn’t been in love for 20 years and felt in my bones that the one person that was meant for me wasn’t in Australia.

If I had a soul mate out there then I was going to have to go out and find him and that was never going to happen in my bedroom. Let the games begin. Step one, download Tinder, step 2 drop the walls. Step 3 be open to to idea of love. Now that was an uncomfortable feeling but I’ve waiting so long I am doing this.