Extrañando

"Mesdames et messieurs, nous sommes arrivés à Lyon!" The conductor announced as we arrived to our next city. We had walking directions from the train station to our hostel; it was only about a fifteen minute walk outside. Little did we know it would be pouring as we pulled into Lyon. We took the metro to the closest station and were ready to walk the five minutes in the rain when a metro employee came up to us and asked, motioning to our backpacks, if we were planning on camping out in the rain that night. I laughed and said we were headed to the hostel. Next thing I know, the kind gentleman was giving us directions, and permission, to ride the city tram sans billets, without tickets, one stop over to just above the hostel. It we had decided to walk, we would have taken a very long and steel hill up to the hostel. Instead, we rode the tram and walked a few meters down to the entrance of the he hostel. As we were carrying our heavy backpacks and as it was raining pretty heavily, we were thankful to be walking less time and also downhill. At this point, it was about 22:30 and we were both very tired from our Paris adventure, so we showered and went right to bed and planned on waking up whenever our rested bodies felt like it. 

At 05:45 the next morning, I had been awake for about fifteen minutes and could not be in bed any longer. My body ached but it also longed to move around. Getting up, I dressed quietly and left our room of six individuals to head downstairs and write the final details on my Paris entry #2. I was able to talk to my family back home, and I watched the morning sun rise over the mountain our hostel was in as I heard my niece's voices right before they went to bed. I sang them their favorite song and wished them goodnight. Even as I sit here with the Lyon valley spread out in front of me, my heart still longs to be closest to the people I love the most. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl, and this country girl is missing home this Wednesday morning. 

I miss watching my girls run up to me with their arms wide open; I miss their smiles as they say my name. I miss the way they giggle when I give them warm hugs. I miss my mama's face as she leaves for work in the morning, I miss catching her right as she is about to get on her bike and go on her way. I miss my dad coming home to the lemonade I made him; I miss him parking his bike right outside our door and the thinking the sweat on his face glistens like the moisture on his lemonade glass. I miss my sister and the way she makes me laugh like no one else; I miss her text messages about wanting piña coladas during our Sunday dinner. I miss my cousin and am sorry we didn't get to practice our Cumbia routine before I left. I miss my friends and remember the last time we were all together, at a wedding, at a gym class. I miss their smiles and miss their gossip; I miss my triplet (or is it Mrs. Triplet now?); I miss my friend and Leila; I miss my personal manicurist and partner in crime. I can't even write about missing the other half of this country duo, missing the way we danced without a care in the world, missing the feel of resting my arm against a broad shoulder, missing the smiles and the laughs, missing the references to Ivonne and Sesame Street, missing everything and all... I'll stop know because the lady sitting next to me is going to think I have gallons of tears stored up within me, and I'll stop because missing you all so much reminds me of how lucky I am to have such a great group of friends and family. People for whom I wish to be there just as they have been for me. 

I miss you all and I hope you know I keep you in my thoughts and am wishing you well wherever you may be. I will keep this entry short as we are about to head out to explore Lyon, and I will get on reporting the next leg of our adventures soon!

Je vous aime tous!