It's Greek to me.

Last night, Ross and I attended a Greek Embassy reception honoring Greece's National Day. Why, you ask, would I consider attending when I had just been diagnosed with strep throat 8 hours earlier? You see, I had this cute new dress to wear. No really, the invitation itself was a sort of "olive branch extension" ...a bridge in a relationship that was important for us to cross. So, we went. I always sort of pinch myself at these functions and ask, "What in the world am I doing here?" We just came here to start a school to help a few folks, and somehow we ended up being invited by Ambassadors and Diplomats to their receptions. But still, our homegrown roots show through. We don't want to pay 5TL to check our coats upon entering, so we ditch them in the car and nearly run freezing into the hotel lobby. We have twin Greek boys at our school named Polycarpus and Taxiarchus. Every time I say their names, it takes me back to high school etymology class and I want to dissect what they mean. We even once had a Greek school mom named Aphrodite. It's just all so...Greek! Some of you may not know that Ross is married to a Magna Cum Laude graduate. However, there are some times that I just feel I need to take him out of that realm, and just be that girl he dated and described as, "just a lot of fun." So last night I made the following comment, just to remind him how fun (ditsy) I can really be. I said, after shaking hands with the Ambassador and his military entourage, "Ross, they just all look so GREEK!" They are Greek, Sara. "Right, but I mean LOOK at them. Dark hair, strong features, so GREEK! Ross, you don't know this, but any one of those guys could seriously be on Days of Our Lives." What are you talking about? "Well, back in my pre-conviction days when I actually tuned in, they always had some strong, Greek man who had power and money and could control everyone. Those guys could seriously be on that show." I think Ross was amazed by my fun side at that point. He had no comment.

But the best part of the evening occurred when we met up with the gentleman, a Greek Air Force Officer (and school dad) who had invited us. We chatted about his home country and told him we had never seen Greece even though we live right next door to it. He suggested we visit a Greek Island called Santorini http://travel.webshots.com/album/20128887RSlrgrVlmc. He was trying to describe it and kept coming up with, "Vesuvius," to which I blurted out, "VOLCANO!" (There's that Magna girl comin' out.) "Yes! Yes!" he replied. He told us all about how it was built on a volcano, with hotels built into the rock, overlooking a sunset. He then told Ross, "You MUST take your wife there." Ross graciously replied, "Of course." Then he said, "No, really you MUST. With no kids." Ross loosened his collar and once again said, "Sure, that would be wonderful." Then he said, "You MUST, Mr. Campbell, at least once every 10 years. This is a MUST." I just grinned from ear to ear, all the way back out to the car. I don't even think I was cold without my coat after that.