I want Sharis

The following is a random vent and misc thoughts. My host is sleeping and I cannot go anywhere until he wakes. I feel very lonely trapped inside this apartment with nothing to do and I am missing home...so what do I do with myself?!?!? I blog!

I miss being at home right now....because I want breakfast. They don't eat breakfast here, they just have cafe.

I want to go to Sharis, get a steak skillet, and shove the entire thing down my throat.

After having smelled the sweet aroma a mile away, I want to see the waitress walk down the aisle with that big black sizzling skillet in her hand. I want to enjoy the flavor of those hard outside, soft inside, greasy, and cheesy potatoes in my mouth. I want to swirl ketchup into those bell peppers, steak, onions, and eggs and pile as much of them as I can on my fork. I want to sip on that strong arista bold coffee after I've first dumped tons of sugar and creamer in it. Then having consumed it all and wiped the plate clean with my fingers-- I want to lean back in the booth, put my hand on my stomach, and feel the pain of eating way too much....

Oh for the love! Sharis---why don't they have something like you in Italy???? They have crappy McDonald's on every corner...surely they should have a fine American breakfast establishment that is open 24 hours for hungover people.

I also want to lay in my own bed while I hold Harley down and force him to cuddle with me.

I also also want to be able to call my girlfriends and tell them every little detail of my night out last night. Oh to talk to someone who knows me...I miss my friends so much!

Want, want, want...us humans are needy! This experience is most always humbling, as I will indeed not be getting any of those particular "wants" today. However, don't get me wrong...I am very grateful for the things I do get---like being in Italy. I am so lucky that yesterday, my day consisted of standing in front of the "hands-down" most ornate church I have ever seen and then walking through a castle. That I then got to spend my evening amongst some of the most intelligent, fun, and awesome people you could ever expect to meet and whom I immediately fell in love with. An evening full of dining, drinking, and dazzling conversations...of course, I could have nothing less than one of the most fantastic times ever! Life really is GREAT!

People say to me...but your on vacation (or now days: your on holiday). Please let me assure you that this is not vacation--this is a backpacking adventure! While it is true that I don't have to work...vacation is laying on a beach and getting served pina coladas. Vacation is wearing your new clothes and going out to dinner. Vacation is getting your own space in a nice hotel where you have drawers to put clothes into or an accessible suitcase. Vacation is enjoying your time with a best friend or a loved one. Vacation is sleeping in on good sheets. Vacation is taking pictures of you and your sweetheart looking beautiful against the sunset. Vacation is picking between massages or pedicures. Vacation is living moments of luxury...

Maybe next time I blow off my life for 6 weeks I will choose a vacation! For now, I will continue to sleep in random places--being grateful when that place is a room to myself. I will continue to wear the same socks for days at a time. I will continue to not do my hair and look the same in every photograph. I will continue to be grateful when I get meals and try very hard to be happy about the corn chips I bought at the store to munch on. I will continue to have these deep emotional epiphanies that make me feel as though I am one of those really annoying people who want to have "deep life conversations" all of the time...geez, I want to tell them and now myself--give it a rest won't you!?!?! I will continue to get lost, buy the incorrect phone cards, have no real direction to my days, and LOVE IT! I will continue to be amazed by the kindness of strangers, the beauty of foreign countries, and how God blesses me in each moment. And of course, I will continue to pour out way too many of my thoughts to a random audience on the world wide web--happy that if I have not a soul to talk to, I can still type!

I really want Sharis though, my mind cannot get away from Sharis. Oh, breakfast. Sweet, sweet, breakfast...my mouth waters....

Dad: Can you please arrive to pick me up from the airport with Sharis to-go. Please????? I arrive at 8:30pm Portland time but for my body it will be 5:00am. Either time seems perfectly good to consume an entire steak skillet meal! Besides, as much as I do miss home in rare moments like these, I am going to be sad. I am going to miss my Italy and being on a wild adventure. I am going to be sad to no longer spend my days being lost, taking photos, meeting other travelers, and making new global friends. I need something to look forward to besides the obvious of seeing my family and friends...I need Sharis to highlight my return!

I continue to dream of skillets...