OK so as you, dear friends, know we're leaving for Belgium in a few short days (Friday, July 19). We're going to spend my 30th birthday with Ineke Artoos and Tijl Vanharen in Antwerp, Belgium and the surrounding areas (including Amsterdam on my birthday and Paris on July 25). Plus we get to see a lot of their "stomping grounds" - Mechelen and Houthlaen (where their respective parents live) as well as the trenches from World War I and the country's capital, Brussels.
A lot of my friends know that we met "our Belgians" in the Dominican last October. But I think few realize just how close I've gotten with my sweet friend, Ineke.
So if you're interested, I'll start with meeting them. We met in a pool at our all inclusive hotel. Both of us were celebrating our anniversaries (both together for 5 years I believe). Theirs is Oct. 14 and ours is Oct. 20. Ineke's birthday is also in October (the 26th). So we are sitting at the pool bar on day two of our trip and the pool is like the Disney ride "It's a Small World." You hear every language and see all sorts of people. But the couple next to us were speaking in a language that I didn't recognize. So (and it was late in the day, if you catch my drift) I turn to the girl beside me and classily say "Where y'all from" and she responds in her beautiful accent, "We're from Belgium."
The beginning of a beautiful friendship.
We closed down the pool bar that night and made plans to go out (to our pre-paid hotel bars/restaurants) but that was a bad day for us. Turns out, they were staying right across the hall from us AND when they knocked on the door to rouse us ... we were like NO. We're gonna have to call it a night. I mean, basically when we walked in from the pool I literally tossed the key across the room and crawled in the bed. Donezo.
But the next day - our actual anniversary - we hooked back up in the lobby. I was embarrassed. I was like "they will think we're a bunch of light weight sissies." But we had champagne together and then went separate ways. The rest of the week we hung out, even taking in a Michael Jackson show at one of the satellite resorts.
We hung out at the pool the week and had PLANNED to do a dolphin excursion together. It didn't work out. Long story but we met back up at the pool. It was just really special. I usually like to run from strangers but I honestly found myself hoping that we could spend more time with them.
Before we left, we exchanged Facebook and email contacts. And saying "we kept in touch" is the understatement of the century. Since October (9 months) Ine and I have used Facebook chat to exchange ... wait for it ... more than 13,000 individual messages. We've also emailed and Skped. So yes, we're tight. She shouldn't even read this blog because whenever ANYTHING (and I mean anything) happens to me, she's the first to heard it. I stump my toe ... *texting Ineke "I stumped my toe," "Ineke I have drie (three in Dutch) cavities!"
That's another thing, I started learning Dutch because of her. She is such an inspiration. She speaks multiple languages - French, Dutch, English (and I'm sure she understands even more). Clearly, she's brilliant.
But while that's awesome, it's her character that's the biggest draw. She really is one of the most genuine and caring people I've ever known. And sure the "we live on different continents" thing was intriguing at first ... our friendship is much deeper than that now. We're really more like family than friends. We refer to each other as older/younger sisters ... it's really how I feel about her. Strange but true.
So yeah it's one of those crazy things that can only be chalked up to fate. I can't wait to make more memories with the two of them (obviously Tijl is pretty awesome too). It's gonna be epic.
No comments:
Post a Comment