Days 45 and 46

(Dan’s comments are italicized)

• Fast boat to Sarande, Albania

And so, our last day on Corfu had arrived. We struggled with what to do for at least 10 seconds then decided to try a different beach before wandering around Old Town one last time.

This time, we caught a bus to Benitses which had green mountains on one side of the road and the beautiful blue Ionian sea on the other. The public bus system around Corfu is very nice, and Google maps is excellent with charting the bus stop locations and times. So visiting different beaches is easy. Even the bougainvillea seems brighter in the Greek sunshine!

I’ve thought a lot about Rachael over the last week (actually, always but, perhaps, especially over the last week because I couldn’t hide behind being busy)! I’ll never understand what happened, but I know that losing a child changes you, and that things that used to be easy require so much effort and energy after the loss! I now have to fight every day to keep my soul in the sunshine and not let it fall (oh, so easily) into (and down) that rabbit hole.

For five years, I’ve been giving myself a hard time for not being who I was before my child died. But I think, once again, Greece has cast its healing spell on me. Here’s what I’ve worked out; before Rachael died, it was so easy to surround myself with sunshine. It was like taking a photo where you’d see something pretty, and ..click…done!

Nowadays, that unconscious, one-step joy has disappeared and has become a thoughtful and conscious, multi-step process. For example, I may see something and think how ugly it is…

…but choose to put in energy to get past the ugliness…

…and choose to put in more effort to get into the sunshine!

It’s not where I used to be but, with a lot of effort, I’m getting there! Greece, once again, has worked its magic! 💖

And now, it’s goodbye Greece and hello Albania. This is the first country we’ve visited that I’ve never been to before! I had always felt that I would someday visit France, Spain, Italy and Greece, but I did not think I would ever visit Albania. So when the opportunity popped up, we jumped at it.

Our new home (for three nights) is heavenly; we have our own terrace facing the sea! I’m not sure I’m going to leave this space until we leave Sarande!

But I did! We went for a little walk to get our bearings and find something to eat. Our initial reaction is that things are cheaper here and the locals are really lovely (and speak some English!) So far we both agree that this is a wonderful place…though we may change our minds tomorrow when we try to use the bus system 😂 International Tourism has recently been embraced in Albania, so the town still has the feel of the 1990s, developing country type of atmosphere. I’m really loving it.

Sitting on our porch for the evening, we watched the sun set over Sarande port and the pirate ship switch on its lights as we listened to the waves (and night life) below. What a lovely way to end the day!