Unbelievably Lucky.

I feel very lucky today. Well, I feel lucky every day that I wake up in Belgium. But today, I feel even luckier. (Is that a word? I think so, my spell check didn’t flag it.)

Today, I took the kids to school, and tonight, they will all go stay with friends overnight. So, I feel lucky that we have friends here that are willing to take our kids for an overnight, and I feel equally lucky that I know our kids will behave and not be too much trouble (hopefully.) Luke was a little weepy this morning when I left. But I handed him off to his third grade teacher who had managed to turn his tears into a smile before I even walked away. I feel lucky that Luke has such a good teacher this year, even if it’s just for a few months. (What is that, reason number 4?)

Then, I drove to the La Hulpe train station and got on the train. I feel lucky to live in a city with trains. Then, I rode it to Gare du Midi. There, I cleared customs (reason number 5 or 6, I've lost count, for feeling lucky, but deserves its own blog entry) and boarded a Eurostar train to London. I feel lucky to live close enough to London that I can take a train and get there before lunch.

I am going to London today, because fifteen years ago, I got married. I married this guy, who had a passion to see the world and a gift for talking to people. Specifically, he has a talent for being able to connect with people from other countries and cultures. Talk about luck. This guy took me to London for our honeymoon and it was our first trip abroad together. I remember riding the train into London from the airport, watching the gardens of the houses rush past, thinking, “I could live here someday.”

For the past five years -- one third of our marriage -- that dream came true. (See original reason for feeling lucky today, above.) My parents were here this summer when we celebrated our fifteen year anniversary, and not that I’m not thankful for the nice dinner we had with them on August 8 (thanks again Mom and Dad), tonight I’m meeting John in London so we can go out for a date. We have tickets to see Les Miserables, a show that we saw on our honeymoon.

I’m on the train now, and everyone around me is talking about where they will go first when they get to London. Which museum? Which neighborhood? The Italian guys near me have a map spread out between the four of them, and they are taking this conversation very seriously.

And it occurred to me, that this is the first time I’m going to London, and I don’t want to “see” anything. The first thing I’m going to do when I get to London is go for a run. I’ve always wanted to run the loop around the bridges between Covenant Garden and Big Ben. But I never have my running stuff because there is never enough time. Or else we end up walking too much and I’m too tired.

So today, I feel really lucky that I’m going to London just because I can. And I will have time to go for a run.