A Little Taste of Home

Just as I started to get a little bit homesick, my mom texted me that she was going to be in Sydney to visit me within 24 hours. Many feelings flooded my mind, but the one thought that stayed constant was my love for the city of Sydney, and how much I wanted to share that with her. Everything did not go according to plan, however, as I should have expected. As soon as my mom arrived, I was so anxious to get her up and moving, but she just wanted to nap. I also kept bugging her about dinner plans, and she would tell me to let her figure it out on her own. She wanted to be in control even though I had been living in Sydney for a little over two months. Although I would get frustrated with my mom over the smallest little things that did not even matter, it made me realize how lucky I was to have my mom there to fight with me. After lots of nagging and pushing each other's buttons, my mom let out a huge sigh of frustration when she realized something (something that she was hiding from me)- I later found out that the reason my mom was so on edge was that she planned a flight to the Great Barrier Reef with me for the day after her arrival in Sydney. Not only that, but she was planning on surprising me with Bruno Mars tickets the night before leaving for the GBR. When she sighed like I previously mentioned, she had just realized that the Bruno Mars tickets that she had originally purchased were for the wrong night (the night we were going to be in Hamilton Island for GBR). Because she was keeping this all a secret, she was grouchy since nothing seemed to be going her way and she felt like she could not tell me. She ultimately had to ask me for help, revealing the secret of Bruno Mars. We were somehow able to last minute sell the tickets for the wrong night, and repurchase new ones, and I am so thankful for that. Bruno Mars in my favorite city? YES PLEASE. After little bickering back and forth with my mom, I was able to realize that her grumpiness was all out of love and she was just trying to do something special for me- and it was. Bruno gave the performance of a lifetime. After his concert, we went to bed, and woke up in the morning for our flight to Hamilton Island. Once we got there, it was raining uncontrollably. The forecast quickly went from being sunny all weekend to a weekend-long thunderstorm, which was not exactly ideal. Our "sunset cruise" was actually more like something I would watch on a "Storm Chasers" episode on TV. Our snorkel excursion in the Great Barrier Reef turned into a "snorkel in the Inner Reef because it is too dangerous to drive all the way out to the GBR" excursion. Still, it was a spectacular journey. I saw the most amazing fish and reef life, so I am grateful we decided to battle our motion sickness in the storm. Even in the pouring rain, Hamilton Island was one of the most beautiful places I have ever laid my eyes on. I can only imagine how perfect it must have been in the sunshine. Although nothing seemed to go according to plan, my mom and I were eventually able to laugh about all of her trip's hiccups and enjoy our time together, which gave me the small taste of home that I needed. When we came back to Sydney, the skies were bluer than ever and the sun was beating down.  Once she was able to relax, she had an absolutely fantastic time, and I will forever hold the memories I made with her close to my heart.

Cheers,
Liza