Greece is eight hours ahead of our time in Indiana. At 1:38 am on May 6 I heard the phone beep with a text message. Praying it was the one I was hoping for, I tore out of bed, ran across the room, and read the message from my husband’s co-worker, “Just got the email from Sue, you got the deal/drink one for me.” I immediately yelled to Dave, “Wake up! You got the account!”
It has been a tough economic year for the world. This account would have a significant impact on my husband’s future job viability. The organization was to have made their decision at a meeting two days prior. Not hearing any message by the end of that day plus the following day, my husband said it was not a good sign.
However, that fact didn’t put a wrinkle in my unabiding belief that he would be awarded the account. My dear friend had coached me well. She had sent me a message one day saying, “How are you going to celebrate when you hear the news that Dave gets the account? Remember – keep your focus on the ‘feeling’ of that celebration and your thankfulness for the hands ‘behind the scenes’ orchestrating the perfect outcome!” I had been “feeling” and visualizing the celebration dinner in Greece for some time now.
In deep gratitude, and relief, we made plans to celebrate in Santorini. The travel book highly recommended a restaurant called “1800” on the top of the mountain in the town of Oia (pronounced “ee-uh”). The travel book was absolutely accurate. It was wonderful to see my husband so happy, consuming what he said was one of the best dishes he had ever eaten in his entire life. We sat in an outdoor terrace with an attending staff that made the evening a fabulous experience.
Leaving the restaurant, we made our way through the cobblestone path with hundreds of shops and “tavernas” tucked into the mountain side on both sides of the walkway. Little did we know that we were about to experience a magical evening.
My husband decided he wanted to continue the celebration by stopping at one of the shops to have an after-dinner coffee and to smoke a Cuban cigar that he had purchased for this special evening. When I entered the tiny café, I was immediately drawn to the scene that extended beyond the archway leading to a tiny balcony.
The moon was full, casting its light across the ocean. The tiny town of Fira (pronounced “fee-rah”), nestled on top of the mountain on the opposite side of the island sparkled with thousands of tiny dazzling white crystal lights. Just to the right of Fira on the other side of the mountain, another tiny town dazzled its crystal white lights. It was if the dancing lights were glittering their communication to one another.
Off to the left was nestled the town of Oia, with its hundreds of white cubed homes trimmed in pastels completely covering the side of the mountain from the top to the sea. To the right were the famous blue-domed churches that you see in every painting of Santorini.
I immediately close the table closest to the balcony and turned my chair to be able to take in the entire scene. It was so beautiful, I didn’t even want to blink for fear of missing any of the magical moment. Only then did I notice that we were alone in the café, with the exception of a young lady sitting to our left, staring at the view, sipping a drink. I didn’t even notice that she had a notepad and pen in front of her till my husband asked her if she was a writer.
Soon we were mesmerized by all that she spoke of. I strained to catch most of her words as she spoke English, but with a thick Greek dialect. A writer, she told us she had been on the island for two months and had never witnessed such a spectacular scene. Soon we engaged in a conversation about the magnificent magic of Nature. Being fanatically drawn to Nature myself, I felt there was a message here for me on this evening. I drank up every moment, not wanting the night to end. The pictures on my camera will always help to reinforce the memory contained within my heart of the magical evening in Santorini, May 7, 2009.
