It's Been Two Months Today

[DifRent]

Four years ago today, my W and I were in Thessaloniki, the last day of three spent in Greece. As the evening turned to night, we were enjoying ourselves with her cousin and a bunch of friends in an outdoor bar on the banks of the Aegean sea. The financial crisis (which just keeps getting worse) was all around us, but that doesn't stop the Greeks from enjoying their libations!

As we traveled on that trip to nine countries, I wanted to be sure to have the authentic food and drink experiences of each place we visited. So while in Greece, I had a little ouzo at every meal. Mind you, there are two kinds of ouzo in Greece - the "female" ouzo, which has an anise flavor and is fairly mild - and the "male" ouzo... which is, well, a bit stronger.

I'd been handling the "female" ouzo with no problem the whole trip, but this night when I ordered it, they brought out the high test stuff. Even with it being a bit stronger, it goes down easy.

Way too easy.

Enjoying our political and intellectual conversations around the table, I ordered a second.

My W's cousin, who lives in Greece, said to my W... "umm, Dif probably shouldn't have that second ouzo." My W didn't think anything of it, and didn't try to stop me.

Well, she should have. There comes a time where my memory completely fails me, because I passed out on the sidewalk as soon as we left the restaurant. My W tells the story of what happened next in such a way that has everyone who hears it rolling on the floor in laughter. But in all seriousness, that woman literally carried me through the streets of Thessaloniki that night, got me to vomit so I would come out of my stupor, and tucked me safely into bed.

I woke at 5am and had it slowly dawn on me that I couldn't remember the night before. I looked over at my W and asked what happened, and she told me how scared she was, and how happy she was that I was okay. We had a five hour drive back to Pristina. She covered me with a blanket in the car and kept checking to make sure I was okay. Back at her apartment, she took the day off from work and just took care of me the whole time.

"I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you, babe. I love you so much."

Her love was self-sacrificial - I mean, I guess any partner would do what she did, but maybe not with such love and forgiveness. I posted a funny comment about it on Facebook this morning, since many of my friends love the story. I hope she sees it and is reminded we have a history, and within that history, she loved me - and as opposed to affair love, REALLY loved me - very much.