"Daddy, can hippopotamuses drown?" Sennen called from the swimming pool. "Because they live in water and can swim under water, so can they drown?" We spent Emily's last day in Patmos enjoying ourselves on a gorgeous day at Pleiades Bar & Restaurant which features a beautiful swimming pool overlooking Sapsilla Beach. In between bouts of silliness and swimming, Sennen would periodically pull up to the side of the pool and shoot out a seemingly random question. "Daddy, can walking around in an elevator when it's moving cause cancer?"
This is how Sennen spends his pool time. When he got home, he asked, "Was ALL of the Portuguese Empire owned by the King of Portugal? And was the King of Portugal nice or mean?"
Of course in other moments, Sennen was playing Ring Around the Rosie in what Ailyn calls "the kachoosie" (which doesn't heat) with his mom and sister. Or spinning in circles around the pool with Emily. Or asking me to swim around the deep end with him.
Both kids were in great spirits, understand that Emily is heading home a few days before us and seemed to want our last day in Patmos as an entire family to be a great one.
For Emily, the day seemed to be mostly great, but with some bittersweetness. She awoke at 7:45 – which is early for us this summer – and began packing the kids and then herself. Surprisingly, this had her in a great mood because as she completes packing – a task which generates a lot of anxiety for her – a sense of relief and lightness came to her. So, the more she packed at an early hour, the happier she became – a sort of a post-packing anxiety euphoria. After a spanakopita for breakfast and the completion of her packing, we headed to Pleiades for swimming and lunch where she had a generally great time. Only she picked up a local magazine and pined away at the pages, sad that the summer is finally ending. Looking out at the gorgeous view on a beautiful day was enjoyable – but also a reminder of all were leaving.
Worse than both of these was the fact that we saw at least five different people or families we know from around the island. Despite being located at a boutique resort and seemingly the kind of place you would find international tourists, Pleiades today and last time was filled mostly with locals. At this point, we casually know a lot of people on Patmos which today included a family whose house we looked at, our server from last night, our server at Kima Restaurant who we originally met hanging out at Kampos Beach, another server from a beachside cafe in Skala and Valentis the delivery and inventory manager at the Alpha Beta supermarket. All of them were there with friends and family enjoying brunch, lunch and an afternoon of swimming. Valentis' three-year old son, Philobos played in the "kachoosie"with our kids while Valentis with his excellent English chatted with us. It was pretty great because we actually had the chance to get to know him and learn about his life. It was very cool to know he's Patmosian, lives here year-round with his wife who runs a daycare and their kids ages five and three – and he owns two houses.
One very different thing about Patmos is that Pleiades is not the kind of place you would expect someone at home with a supermarket job to be hanging out on a casual Sunday afternoon. Of course, how many couples at home who run a daycare and work as a supermarket inventory manager can own two homes? The economics of Patmos are deeply interesting and it seems to us that if you're Patmosian, you're likely to have property, even if you don't generate a lot of revenue, although now with Patmos' increasing popularity there are increasing opportunities to put that property to work. Which may well explain their Pleiades Sundays.
After a fun afternoon overlooking an incredibly sparkling blue cove, we headed back to our house to shower, change, check-in online for Emily's flight and shift gears before heading to Emily – and in a way Matheus' – farewell dinner since it was the last dinner shared by Emily and Matheus. Before leaving, Sennen presented Matheus with a poster he drew of "Super Matheus" and all the things Super Matheus will need. "But before you can be a superhero, there's one very important thing you have to do," Sennen said. "You have to go to school and learn all the languages in the world in order to do your job well."
Upon further reflection on the way to dinner, Sennen added that perhaps Matheus needed to workout including doing pushups to be strong and yoga to keep himself flexible. Ailyn chimed in that he needs to also do yoga including lots of up-dogs and down-dogs. Then they contemplated going to Brazil to train Matheus.
We went to Trihanderi, Emily and Matheus' (as well as most of the island's) favorite seafood restaurant. We went particularly early because Trihanderi – arguably the most entrepreneurial food establishment on the island where they actually have multiple seatings per night and keep the guests moving along – is usually full by 8pm and remains so until 2 am. Emily and Matheus each got their favorite – a plate of grilled octopus and all of us shared mezzes and salad. Before dinner began, we presented Matheus with a card and a photo book of his experience with our family. Although he opted to save the card for later because it would make him too emotional, he began crying when he saw the book. It was 107 pages of memories.
The kids were not into a very long dinner – which suited the Trihanderi people just fine. We helped them turnover their table as Emily took the kids ahead to nearby Choklakis Beach to watch the sunset. Matheus and I finished our meal, paid and caught up with them just as the sun was making its final descent shaded in a brilliant red. Sennen saluted Apollo and Helios for their fantastic job lighting our world and for the great sunset.
At last, the kids had to resolve their debate that had been percolating between them throughout dinner – Stelio's or Marechiara for gelato tonight? It was important to pick the best gelato to say goodbye to mommy. In the end, Stelio's - the cheaper, more charming ambiance but lesser gelato – won out. We enjoyed our last gelato all together and then headed home to put the kids to bed and for Emily to shower and do her final preparation to depart.
"I can't stay here without you! I can't be alive without you! I can't live without you, mommy!" Ailyn drove the dagger in deep as her last act before going to sleep. Sennen tossed in some "Don't go, don't go, don't go… I'm going to trap you here with my arms!" But he understood and eventually allowed Emily to say goodnight, unlike his sister who made Emily stay until she fell asleep.
Emily, emotionally spent took a shower and got herself ready to go.
Emily then got herself a beer and sat around the living room with Matheus and me – chatting, about his life steps to come, the kids, what we're returning to, etc. When the moment came to leave at 11 pm, Emily and Matheus embraced in a big sobbing mess – Emily shaking as she does when she's deeply emotional. They hugged for at least a minute and then needed another before Emily could actually get out the door.
"This sucks, it really sucks," Emily said, trying to compose herself 10 feet down the street from the gate to our house. "I told him 'Thank you for everything', but that really doesn't say it all. Do you think he knows how much we love him?" I told her that I think so and that this is the hard part of the au pair deal – the saying goodbye at the end. A passing motor scooter made us snap to and continue the journey from the house to the ferry terminal. I was carrying her large, 90 liter backpack, marveling at how heavy it is while she warned me the kids' suitcases which have a lot of the items we purchased this summer will be heavier. Those fortunately have wheels.
Before crossing the street to the ferry terminal, we stopped at Christopolous Bakery for some drinking water and Emily's favorite praline treats. Then across the way to join the masses of humanity that were assembling in anticipation of Blue Star 2 ferry. At first, it looked like a small crowd around the benches of the waiting area as we're used to seeing. Then Emily peeked out at the dock and discovered a large line of people had formed all the way to the gate. We went out to the dock to join which turned out to be the right decision when a half hour later there was a giant trail of people lined up behind us. Also innumerable cars, SUV's and motorcycles had lined up in more lanes than I realized existed.
Emily and I waited, talked of the amazing summer we had, that the sadness of ending this one is just proof that we can create more great summers – and that more is yet to come. We talked about the days ahead at home, of missing Matheus, about the kids and of missing one another this week. It will be a very unusual week to come.
Then the light in the distance became visible and around the bend and into the Patmos harbor came the ginormous Blue Star 2. When it turned around and docked, ramp descending to the dock, it looked like a city – six stories high, lit up with cars waiting to unload. I helped Emily get the big backpack on herself and her small carry-on on her front. There we parted as the crowd pushed toward the gate in anticipation of being let on to the boat. Meanwhile, people we swarming from the back of Blue Star 2 followed by and exodus of giant trucks, buses and cars – after which trucks, cars and people were allowed on. I knew I didn't have time to watch it all before the crowds of people and vehicles were going to prevent me from getting out, so I slipped out the back entrance of the port, not getting to watch Emily board. She texted – it took longer than expected before they allowed passengers to begin boarding, first getting the large trucks aboard. About 20 minutes later, she was able to board and the overwhelmed check-in desk people hastily handed her the key to her cabin and without any assistance, sent her on her way.
Emily is now sailing for Athens to arrive at 8am and then taxi quickly to the airport to begin her journey homeward so that she can attend a conference for work.
The rest of us are all tucked in safe and sound in our Patmos house with two days of Patmos ahead and one in Athens. We can push off the inevitable emotional parting from Matheus for a few days more.
