Driving Straight Into Sickness (and the French Riviera)

It’s unfortunate to realize how much I let stress take over my life. And this stress isn’t necessarily derived from things that are worth worrying about. For me, it seems to be a build and burst scenario. After a stressful week with small extra stressful things built on top, my body had had enough.

Friday morning came and with the departure of my French Riviera trip with Jessica, it would be an early one. Little did I know that my body was already preparing an extra early morning start with a bout of stomach sickness.

I had changed my aditude after my sucky week, yet the effects had still caught up with me.

Great. I was sick and I had to sit on a bus for 6 hours. I sucked it up, forced down some cereal, grabbed a banana, and was out the door. The small suitcase’s wheels that I had taken jammed up as I walked down the quiet cobblestone streets of Florence at 6am.

There I was: a stressed out (yet blessed) American girl, with stomach pain and a defective suitcase.

“God, how long is this going to last,” I uttered. “I can’t take much more. Give me the strength to get through this bus ride and the patience to relax.”

This was my prayer. And honestly, it was the only thing that I could do. I had no other outlet. There was no way that I could fix it. Yet, why hadn’t I just put this in His hands to start?

I’m a firm believer in the fact that to get your attention, God sometimes needs to throw you for a loop. In my case, sickness is where God and I share our closest times, because I’m finally able to focus on something other than my mental checklist. My mind is clear and I become thankful for health.

In this way, every time my body becomes sick (whether it’s stress or the common cold), it doubles as a blessing. It’s a way to strengthen my relationship with my Savior and give me a much needed scolding. It’l like I can hear God say,

“Lauren, stop focusing on the things that don’t matter. Stop stressing about your check book overbalancing by 50 cents or you anxiety about your credit card issue with the cruise. Just focus on my for a bit. I’ll take care of the rest.”

And yet, I continue to do this time and time again. Thinking that once I finish my checklist, the stress will somehow fade away. And in these moments of sickness, I realize two things.

  1. The checklist will never be complete.
  2. The things on the checklist really don’t matter at all.

The sick feeling in my gut traveled with me until we reached Montecarlo, the lavish city in Monaco. The opulence of wealth and luxury was overwhelming. As we came over the bend, i was struck with the fantastic views of what would be the start to our trip to the French Riviera.

I’m not going to lie, I did watch the Selena Gomez movie about Montecarlo and was slightly depressed (for those of you that have any idea what I’m talking about), that I didn’t find my twin French celebrity there and get treated to luxury and pretty dresses. However, I ddi have more time than Miss Gomez to take the cute little tour train and view the famous castle where Princess Grace once lived.

You know what I learned?

Some tours just suck. Especially if they don’t include free chocolate at the end of the tour. Oh Hershey, why hast thou spoiled me ever so rotten?

And pretending to be interested in what thread count of sheets Prince Joseph VII had on his bed just doesn’t interest me.

But, just outside the castle, there was a giant statue of a naked baby. I guess that’s…pretty cool?

To make the rest of the afternoon a bit better, Jessica and I found a small patisserie and ordered lunch. After being attacked by an angry mob of wasps, I was happy and full.

Jessica ordered a zucchini, cheese, and rice pastry. Strangely delicious.

I was able to get my hands on a grilled chicken salad for the first time in FOREVER, I was so happy, that I rewarded myself with this tomato quiche. Delicious! My first taste of French food was very much to my liking :)

Then, we walked along the cliff path, planned the size and dimensions of our yacht and its helicopter landing pad, and devised a plan of how to play a proper game of jacks with the large jack-like dock formation.

We also admired the cute “cottage” like bathroom set-up.

We left Monaco without pulling a slot machine at the famous casino and after realizing this depressing fact, I decided that the taxes from winning millions would be more depressing than the excitement of winning itself.

So, on the bus we went.

As we were traveling toward Nice, my stomach had still decided to give me trouble. I had intense shooting pain so bad, I felt paralyzed to the seat, praying that this was all in my imagination. I called my mom, the one and only person that can make anything better even when thousands of miles away. She prayed with me, calmed me down and gave me permission to take 2 Xanax (which let me tell you, work VERY VERY well).

We gathered for a group dinner and it took all I could to force food into my mouth. But when I tasted the Boeuf Bourgenoine and the REAL French fries, the fact that I wasn’t hungry didn’t seem to matter much. We were caught in a tourist trap french restaurant, next to a large group of senior accordion players, but it didn’t seem to matter much.

It was completely awesome.

Oh, and..just so we are all on the same page, Europeans have this odd obsession with making strange salads.

I mean..yeah..I guess a pickle next to a piece of ham makes sense?

I came back to the hotel, still in pain, laid down, called my mom, and realized that pain had become the main memory of the day. Not because I was sick, but because the week’s stress had transformed into sickness. As I fell asleep, I prayed for the time to relax and a way to control my stress. Could I be taking on too much in my life? Could I start saying no to things that SEEM important?

“God, please give me the stregnth to overcome all that I undertake and the wisdom to know that I can’t handle any thing without you. May my life be a product of your will and may you bless me with discretion to learn when to say no. While you are at it, bless my father with this gift as well.

He needs it more than me.”

 Ciao for now. Two days in the Riviera to follow.

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