Seventy-Two

Day Seventy-Two:  European Memories series #4

That One Time on the Thames

Picture London.  Now picture my smiling face.  There was hardly any moment where those two things didn’t mix.  It was November fifth and me and the girlies had taken the buses down to Parliament and nothing was happening so we ran the length of the Thames.  There is one walkway that has tree’s on either side with blue twinkle lights, it is the absolute perfect date spot.  It was a bit chilly, and there wasn’t anyone but us around, and we super-strolled down the walkway. 

It isn’t any secret that I love the Thames, I absolutely adore the Thames.  The river is just so beautiful, so central, it’s always just there.  It helped me situate myself every day, and it was there when I left, and I was very sad to say goodbye.  I remember the first time I saw it and I cried.  All I talk about here is crying, but I cry when I know I’ve made it.  I made it to theThames, man.

So this one walkway was so quiet, so secluded, and I really enjoyed the fact that it was just there.  I thought a lot about it after that night, and it really reminded me of Uptown Waterloo.  It was nicely decorated and there were things on either side, one of which was the Thames, and I really thought that I had not only made it but I was somewhere. I wasn’t just in London doing schoolwork, I wasn’t just out looking for fireworks at midnight with my girls, I was in a place that was truly important to someone.  That someone was and will forever be me.

I don’t know why the tree’s were decorated, or who put them there, or if they are like that the entire year, but they were just so twinkling, so prominent on the side of the Thames that it really reminded me how lucky I was to be there.  To smell the air that first night, to see those lights, to see the reflections of the lights in the Thames.  I miss that walkway because it spoke to me.  It said “Look at me, I’m here, and so are you.” 

I didn’t even get a picture but I don’t need one.  That walkway will be burned into my memory in the best of ways, I remember thinking how beautiful it was, and walked a little behind the girls, and watched how the light hit them as they walked.  That sounds awkward, but I still can’t believe what great friends I met while away.  I miss that walkway.

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