Fifty Shades Of Blue

"You made him cry!" I said to Emily at the end of dinner while Matheus and the kids were exploring a nearby tree that was just begging to be climbed on.  We went out to dinner at Leonidas, overlooking Lampi Beach which the kids chose as the restaurant they most wanted to revisit before our time on Patmos was over. All was going great until talk of next week came up and somehow, it hit her that when she leaves Sunday night to fly home before the rest of us, she'll be saying goodbye to Matheus – who will be ending his time with us a week from today. 

"I just wasn't thinking about the change until now – that it's a real change…" and as she stared at him, she broke down crying. Matheus then broke down crying and there was a very beautiful emotional moment. It took some time before either of them had dry eyes again. It didn't help that we were planning our last hurrah event with Matheus for today – an excursion boat that took us to nearby coves and islands with jump-off-the-boat swimming. We did the same thing back on the 4th of July, only today the same boat and captain took us to a couple of new coves as well as our favorite tourmaline blue waters of last trip. 

As we have with every excursion, we boarded the Iakobos at about 9:40. Only instead of the casual. anyone-is-welcome attitude, the crew today asked if we had a reservation – which luckily Emily had made. The irony is that on our previous trips, Emily has called and the captain/owner always says to call the morning of – he'll see if he's going that day based on the weather. Emily always prefers to know in advance what we're doing and the two of them, in a very friendly way, never saw eye to eye. Until last night. It turns out that in the "peak season" of the first two weeks of August, suddenly, the captain likes reservations and to coordinate not whether he's going, but how many of his boats he's going to use and to which coves he'll go.

We also continued out ritual of having Greek pies for breakfast when boarding a boat of any kind. Armed with spanakopita, cream pie, Mediterranean pie and the all-important tahini pie – we were ready to face a day of swimming fully charged. Good thing too, because we jumped off the boat to swim in three different coves today instead of just one last time. 

The first was a cove of rich blue-green water with three caves to swim through. Sennen was so excited that he jumped off the boat and began swimming for the nearest cave which tons of excursion-goers were already swimming. through. Since I was the first adult in the water, I kept up with him while Emily, Ailyn and Matheus came along later. Sennen's swimming has become so good that although we made him jump. in each time with his "donut", he quickly wanted to take it off and swim on his own in fairly deep water. We let him and for long stretches, he could. When he got tired, he flipped on his back while we got him his donut and then with a little help, slipped it back on and proceeded to propel himself by kicking like a paddle-wheel steamboat. He's very fast.

Ailyn who has also become a stronger swimmer this summer, still needs full-time donut help in the sea – so she donned her new unicorn donut and was easy-to-spot to say the least while rounding her way back to the boat from the caves.

Poor Matheus emerged from the water with sea urchin spines in his foot from kicking against the side of a cave wall. While not deep and apparently not painful, Matheus despite his best efforts could not fully remove the spines. The boat crew advised olive oil and time – two very Greek remedies. So while Matheus was careful not to step down on the front of his left foot, he also didn't seem to be too bad off.

At our next stop, we jumped into light blue waters at a small island with white cliffs and white stone beaches adjacent to a gap between two islands connected by a chain of white rocks that cause the water to turn a spectrum of different hues of blue. To any lover of blue, it is spectacular. Matheus rated it one of the most beautiful places he's seen in his life. 

For Sennen, it seemed to inspire thought. After happily swimming to shore, swimming around the beach and climbing piles of white rocks, the two of us swam near Emily and Ailyn who were sunning themselves on the white pebble beach. Sennen then asked me if I believe God created everything. I said that I believe God created the universe and nature with all its rules. He wondered if it's possible that everything just created itself – that it all just came to be because it did? I explained that's called Atheism and that many people have that view. He asked me why I didn't and I said that I just think it all fits together in a way that I feel must have a force and intention behind it – but that he can always think about it as he goes through life.

That wasn't the first Sennen question of the day but it came to be far from the last as he spent most of his time on the boat asking many depthful questions ranging from why Washington DC isn't very big given America is so big to why a crazy man made things bad in Germany (as much of WWII as he yet understands – which is about to change)? While swimming he asked me exactly what is a black hole and how does it work? And on the boat he wanted to understand how the 19th century could've begun 219 years ago and ended 119 years ago. Why he was thinking about the 19th century – I have no idea.

Then came his revelation. When after a rapid-fire series of questions on the boat I told Sennen I needed a break from questions for a little while, he said, "Daddy, I think my mind needs to know things and it doesn't want to stop. I think I'm addicted to questions!" Perhaps the truest thing he has ever said.

Our third stop was at Tiganakia, the "blue grotto" with the tourmaline waters we so love. Given the other places we had just been, it seemed less impressive today – but always and forever gorgeous. We went for a family swim with Sennen kicking ahead as we started, and Ailyn organizing Matheus and I to pull her unicorn along when she got tired at the end.

By this point it was 2:30 pm and we were tired and hungry. The boat took us to Marathi Beach where we enjoyed a long, slow, late lunch of mezzes at one of the three tavernas on the little island followed by a little more swimming for the kids. The taverna we chose also treated us to incredibly delicious chilled, fresh black figs picked from their trees as a complimentary dessert.

Our last stop at the island of Arki remains the biggest mystery of the excursion boat route. Arki doesn't have much to offer and we never know what to do with the hour shore-leave there. Only 57 people live on Arki and the three restaurants and two shops at the harbor are about all Arki has to offer aside from some walks along terrain that isn't especially interesting.

On the long, slow ride back from Arki, Ailyn took her traditional afternoon boat nap – this time with her unicorn donut while Sennen continued to struggle with his question addiction. Matheus began talking more about things he plans to do when he returns home as well as the expected joys and challenges of taking the next step in his life.

By the time we reached Skala, it was 7:45 pm and I had 15 minutes to make a work phone call. While I ran back to the house, Emily and Matheus took the kids to pick up gyros from Ailyn's boyfriend's family's restaurant and then back home for a quick dinner before getting the kids showered and ready for bed. The kids were exhausted and Emily and I had work waiting for us.

This is the kind of day that makes me so grateful for everything we have. How many families can decide to take a day to enjoy and celebrate on a random Thursday? How many families have an au pair at all, let alone one like Matheus to celebrate their bittersweet departure? Moreover, how many families can take that random Thursday celebration sailing around nearby Greek islands and diving into brilliant shales of refreshing blue? We are indeed blessed.