The Truman Show?

Ethan is often convinced that his life is the Truman Show. He often says how he gets a sense that the circumstances in his life seem so orchestrated or bizarre that they couldn't possibly be coincidental. I usually joke with him about it, and tell him that it can't be true or else they would have to pay me a lot more to play the part of his wife!!

Anyway, I have to admit that this past Thursday felt like we were indeed in the Truman Show.

I don't know if you remember the movie, but Truman's character, played by Jim Carrey of course, wants to get off the island that he lives on, and go to Fiji. When he finally pursues it and goes to the travel agent, he learns that the earliest flight he could get was in a month, and there's also a poster depicting an airplane being struck by lightening with the logo "It could happen to You!"Well, last Thursday we were supposed to take a long-awaited trip to Italy. You have to understand that Italy is on the very top of my list of "Places to see while we are living in Europe". I have spent countless hours researching, reading books, booking flights, rental cars, places to stay, etc. Then last week, it took me a good three days to get the house in order, do all the laundry, pack the suitcases, etc. in preparation. Last Thursday, we woke up at 5:15am, got ready, drove 45 minutes to the closest airport, and were at the long-stay car park when Ethan read a sign:

"All flights canceled."

Ethan immediately asked why, and learned that a volcano from Iceland had erupted and it was deemed unsafe for planes to fly due to the ash in the air.

How bizarre. (cue the Truman Show theme music)

We looked up at the blue sky above us, and wondered why the big man in the sky wasn't letting us go to FIGI!!!... I mean, Italy.

We went into the airport anyway, and got the information we needed to request a refund for our tickets, collected our car, and drove home. By 9am, we were back where we started that morning.

We spent the rest of our time that morning seeking our refunds, rescheduling our trip for next month, and pouting. To keep our spirits up, we had pizza for lunch and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner.

Of course now, we have learned what HUGE problems this volcano has caused all over Europe. Although I didn't feel this way at first, I can honestly say that I am glad we didn't go on our trip. We have so many friends from here who are now stranded at their holiday destinations: France, the Canary Islands, Egypt, Italy, the US. I heard that the British School system is missing roughly 10% of their teachers! And I know that if we were away when this all happened, that our trip would have ended up being a lot more stressful and a lot more expensive than we would have wanted it to be.

So, now I can look forward to our next planned trip. We're going at the end of May, and we will get to stay two days longer than our first trip was planned for!

Now, I just hope that the "big man in the sky" will let us go......