Laura Davis

  • Home
  • About
    • Books
  • Online Classes
  • Prompts
    • Writer’s Journey Roadmap
  • Writing Retreats
  • Blog
    • Laura’s Blog
    • The Virtual Vacation
    • Featured Students
  • Contact
  • My Account

Sign up to hear from Laura today and receive the Writer's Journey Roadmap.
Free writing prompts and inspiration sent to your inbox every week.

Greece: Since I’ve Come To Greece – Take II

May 31, 2016 By Laura Davis 1 Comment - Read & Respond

laura-davis-greece-joyce-bartlett

Here’s another wonderful response to the prompt, “Since I’ve Come to Greece,” this one from Joyce Bartlett, from Marblehead, Massachusetts:

I’ve seen landscapes that look nothing like the place I wake up in most mornings of my life, even the water, the same H2O that I can see from my bedroom window, has been transformed into something bluer…or greener…or some indescribable turquoise that I think I have in my paintbox at home. I’ve seen leftovers of civilizations that had running water and toilets thousands of years before anyone else thought to do it, and art that brings tears to my eyes and makes me want to drag out an easel and paint something I’ve never painted before.

Since I’ve come to Greece, I’ve heard fruit sellers singing sales pitches into the dusty city streets of Athens, birds, and wind at Milia loud enough to play an ancient stone building like a lyre. I’ve heard friends howl with laughter while covered in mud, and music from an instrument I can’t name but saw as an old man played it in a doorway.

I’ve heard dozens of languages that I can’t translate, but I can tell you what those strangers were feeling or point out who they were flirting with. I’ve heard stories and poetry written by beautiful women who were strangers in May and friends in June.

Since I’ve come to Greece, I have smelled herbs growing on a hillside and vegetables baking in cheese and oregano in a stone oven. I’ve smelled donkey dung and wildflowers and olives. I’ve had a whiff of ancient civilizations and waiters’ cologne and ocean. I’ve smelled sulphur on a sleeping volcano and coffee sneaking out of the doors of coffee shops. I’ve smelled herbal tea brewing, tea grown on a hillside a stone’s throw from the teapot, and the smell of plants and earth after a rain at Milia.

Since I’ve come to Greece, I have tasted onions sweet enough to entice me to eat them and tasted some kind of freedom that I can’t quite identify. I have tasted Baklava to die for and water, that runs from mountain springs out of stone fountains and tastes like water should taste but doesn’t, because we never drink water that hasn’t been altered in one way or another.

Since I’ve been in Greece, I’ve felt happy and full and exhausted and excited. I’ve felt worried and annoyed and frustrated and delighted. Since I’ve come to Greece, I’ve felt thousands of stones under the soles of my shoes and the palms of my hands and felt the rolling movement of the ocean on ferries and fishing boats.

Since I’ve come to Greece, I’ve felt welcomed by strangers and free to read what I have written because there is no criticism, judgement or assumptions.

Since I’ve come to Greece, I’ve met people who are passionate about the environment, politics, writing, cooking, eating and living. I’ve met strangers who live in the same town I live in, people who escaped from their homelands, people who wear body art to celebrate their lives and the women they have known.

Since I came to Greece, I have met guides who talk with their hands, waiters who talk with their hands, shop owners who talk with their hands.

Since I have come to Greece, I have savored the adventure, the landscape, the differences. I have savored the tastes, the colors, the history and the people– those I am traveling with and those who have dropped in and out along the way. I have savored the irresponsibility, food cooked by someone else and the thousands of things to look at and tuck away into memory for another time. I have savored the sharing, the getting to know people, the time spent with friends I would never have found if I hadn’t filled out that form.

Since I have come to Greece, I have been reminded that the world is much bigger than the one I move around in most days–more colorful, unique, and more the same than I could imagine from a distance. I have been reminded that there are interesting and wonderful people I haven’t met yet and that I love poetry read anywhere–a dining room in Milia, a hallway in Hiraklion. I have been reminded that I love home but don’t want to spend all of my time there.

Since I have been to Greece, I’ve learned that toilet paper does not get flushed down the toilet, that some things cannot be translated into another language.

Since I’ve been in Greece, I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter where I am, I will still get cranky if you don’t feed me or let me get my sleep. I’ve learned that there are amazing stories that have yet to be written, but the authors need to take big risks to give them to us–stories are a precious gift.

Since I have come to Greece, I have tasted orange juice that is much more than the juice of an orange. I have made friends that will be hard to leave behind even though I am longing for my own bed.

Since I have come to Greece, I feel younger and better, which is really weird because I’m tired. Since I’ve come to Greece, I have been terrified in a big tourist bus careening down switchbacks to leave the gorge that I hiked all the way, even though it was really hard. I feel relaxed and like something may be shifting inside my head. I’m not sure hat it is, but I’m willing to wait for it to finish.

Since I’ve come to Greece, I’ve been present and open and, as corny as it sounds, I feel very alive.

greece-ad-680x140

Filed Under: Blog, Greece 2016, Retreats, The Virtual Vacation Tagged With: greece, teaching, writing retreat

« Previous Post: Greece: Since I’ve Come To Greece – Take I
Next Post: Greece: Our Closing Session »

Comments

  1. Wendy Morley says

    May 22, 2017 at 3:07 am

    Wow!!! Wonderful emotions expressed so eloquently by lovely Joyce.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More Featured Students?

For years, I’ve been showcasing the work of one of my students in my monthly newsletter and here on my site. If you’d like to see a complete list of the students I’ve published, with links to their work, you can find it in the Featured Student Archives. Just click the link below.

Featured Students

What is the The Writer’s Journey Roadmap?

I send out inspiring quotes and provocative writing prompts via email Tuesday. You can collect them for their own use—or you can post your writing online and enter into dialogue and conversation with a very supportive group of writers who have made this part of their weekly writing practice.

I invite you to become part of my brilliant, supportive, intimate, honest, inspiring free online community.

I hope to see you up on the Roadmap soon!

First time visitor? Click here to learn about our community.

Like this Virtual Vacation?

You can also read about Laura’s travels to:

Peru 2017

In which Laura and Karyn and 18 writers explore Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of Peru.

Serbia 2017

In which Laura leads a workshop at the Incest Trauma Center.

Greece 2016

In which Laura explores the wonders of Crete and Santorini with a wide-eyed group of Write, Travel, Transform adventurers.

Vietnam 2015/16

In which Laura, who grew up during the Vietnam War, goes to Southeast Asia and finds out what Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are really like today.

Commonweal 2015

A journey toward healing loss and grief in a magnificent Northern California setting.

Scotland 2015

In which Laura returns to Scotland with a new group for another jaunt through the wonders of the Scottish Highlands.

Scotland 2013

In which Laura attends the Edinburgh theatre festival and leads 14 writers to a magical retreat in the highlands of Northern Scotland.

Bali 2013

In which Laura visits Australia, and spends three weeks diving, exploring, and teaching in three regions of Bali.

Florida 2014

A journey into old age in America in which Laura brings her 86-year-old mother to Florida so she can see her last surviving sister one final time.

Mexico 2014

In which Laura attends the San Miguel Writer’s Conference and explores the artistic towns around Patzcuaro.

About Laura Davis

In the course of my career as a communicator, I have also worked as a columnist, talk show host, radio reporter, radio producer, blogger, editor, and speaker. Words have always been at the core of my work and my self-expression. Read More . . .

Photo taken by Jason Ritchey

Tags

adventure Aging Parents Alzheimer’s Bali cancer Commonweal creative writing creativity dementia Ellen Bass emp empty nest entrepreneur featured writers greece Laura's stories Laura's wisdom marketing memoir mexico Mother-Daughter parenting teenagers poetry reconciliation retreats sandwich generation Scotland spirituality teaching travel travel adventure Vietnam write travel transform writing practice writing retreat writing tips writing workshop

What People Are Saying About Laura Davis:

[shtmlslider name='shslider_options']

Retreating with Laura: Julie Sheehan

Julie Sheehan

For many years I put off my dream of writing and traveling. I told myself the kids were too little, my husband could never survive without me, that I couldn't possibly be so selfish. I couldn't imagine realistically stepping out of all of my responsibilities and roles. Then I started attending Laura’s summer retreat at Commonweal in northern California and that became an annual gift to myself for the next three years.

When the opportunity to travel with Laura internationally came up, my Land of Later mentality said I could never pull it off. But when my friend got cancer at age 39, I decided to stop taking life and it's endless opportunities to grow, live, nurture and explore myself for granted.

My children were 6 and 9 when I began allowing myself the luxurious pleasure of taking 10 days to two weeks each year to travel abroad with Laura, to spend time with like minded, soul searching people who share a passion for living and writing, to have all my meals prepared for me, to have the space and freedom to stretch out of my cage and check in with who I am, what I want, and how best to get there.

Laura is a skilled and nurturing teacher who encourages her students to take risks, to grow as human beings, and to be vulnerable. She has provided me with a forum where I can gain all my CEUs and learn techniques on how to become a more engaging writer, all while completing yearly emotional rehab.

I return home from each of Laura’s trip a little wiser, a little more open, and a lot more compassionate. I greet my family, friends and daily life with sparkly, clean energy and a renewed patience, brought about by way of re-writing old stories that I needed to let go of. I come home ready to move forward in my life.

A retreat with Laura Davis is one of the best gifts I ever received and gave myself. It took many years to realize that I was worth the time and financial investment, but now there is no looking back.

Julie Sheehan, Livermore California

Recent Comments

  • Pennie on What I Can’t Do
  • Susan on The Rooster
  • Jodie Wiggins on Virtual Vacation: The Junjarri: Australia, Day 5
  • Mary L. Cryns on What I Can’t Do
  • Amika Kemmler-Ernst on What I Can’t Do

Recent Posts

Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #101

Politics and Writing Biden chooses Amanda Gorman as youngest known inaugural poet Tomorrow’s ... [Continue Reading]

Other Posts:

  • Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #100
  • Writing Through the Pandemic: January 12, Number 3
  • Writing Through the Pandemic: January 12, Number 2

Writing Retreats

Whether you are a beginner, an established writer, a published author, or are looking for a creative vacation with your spouse…I have a retreat for you.

Read more . . .

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 Laura Davis