Hi Gia,

Happy Birthday!

I know you still read the blog so I wanted to let you know all of us are thinking of you. Mara picks up my cell phone still and says, “Hello, GiaGia?” She wants to talk to Pappou more and more, but she still thinks of you and wants to chat on the phone. Thane points out pictures of you whenever they come up on the computer and says, “There is GiaGia.”

The other day we were talking about Daddy’s birthday coming up and that your birthday was on the fifth. Thane started to frown and told me that GiaGia was going to miss her birthday. I told him we would celebrate it for her and think about her.

We are busy as ever, and before you say it, yes, I know, I am overdoing it. That’s the funny thing, after 34 years with you, I can still know what you would say, even without you saying it. Mara is in soccer and scored a goal the other day! She looks very cute in her pink shorts and pig tail braids. She is definitely your granddaughter though. She is loving her dresses and all her different shoes. She is even letting me do her hair now and there is enough of it for me to do something with. As you say though, “Who does she look like???” I don’t know but she is certainly a cutie, getting more beautiful everyday. Smart as smart can be too. Her teachers all say it and I see how quickly she picks things up.

Thane is as rough and tumble as ever. He is doing really well in school and has started to write and read (in that order!). He is liking the new Greek school we are going to as well. This week they learned how to do the cross and he lit a candle for you. He is having fun with hockey and soccer too. We are looking at new schools for him for the fall. He is very excited.

Jay is great and is helping me out so much at home. It was easy(ier) to go away last week knowing he had it all under control (although he was as much of a softee as me and let the kids sleep in bed each night). We even got a date night for our anniversary and are going to see Wicked next month. I think I will wear one of your scarves.

Last night, we decorated the outside of the house for Halloween and it looks really good, all the neighbors have commented on how much they like it. You would love it…maybe, if you did not tell me it was tacky. Still…I think you would have liked it.

Time to put Mara to bed. Love you much. Think about you everyday. Miss you. Watch over us.

Stef

Friday night I sat in my hotel room, typing a post for the Herald and watching cheesy TV. Around 10:30 pm, the lights went out. I peeked out the hall and the emergency lights were on but everything else was off. Outside, the city seemed to still have lights too. Without TV, lights, or internet, I decided to call it a night.

I woke after midnight to someone trying to use their key card to get into my room. Apparently this was not the wording I chose when speaking to Jay…I said someone trying to get into my room…and that conjured a different image. The different image was pretty accurate in my mind though. Phone was out and my cell could not call the front desk. The hallway’s emergency lights had shut down. Panicked, I called Jay. He looked on his phone and did not see anything going on in Boras. OK. Deep Breath.

A few minutes later another unwanted visitor arrives at my door. And keeps trying. I hold the door closed (not that they could open it) and say hello several times without a response. I finally give a firm, self-defense class worthy “Stop!” That gets the point across and they move along.

Full disclosure, it was pitch black in the hallway. My door was like 3 doors down from the elevators. It was Friday night and there was a bar downstairs. People probably just coming my way and moving down until they opened their own room successfully. None of that mattered.

Terrorism aside, I finally calmed myself down enough to go to sleep. Around 3:30 I woke up again….all the lights and the TV went on full blast. Probably should have done something about that in the first place.

I found out later that some of the people we were there with had an early flight that morning and had to make it out their room and down 5 flights of stairs with the light from their cells. There were apparently people sleeping in the hallway that they had to walk around. At least I did not have to do that.