Patience

by Leslie

Living in Italy without a car definitely has its perks... One is that I don’t have to spend time looking for parking. It also gives me the opportunity to get a lot of exercise as I walk from place to place. The best part though, is how God uses it to teach me patience… and to go with the flow.

Today was a perfect example of this… Our friend, Jessica, (who the girls helped with the army base junior highers in the fall) lives in Pisa and invited us to come for lunch under her beautiful mimosa tree that is in glorious bloom at the moment.

underneath the mimosa tree

We wanted to get there by 11:30 so we could lunch and then have time to see the ocean before we headed back to Florence. From here to Pisa is supposed to be about a 45 minute drive, but on public transportation it’s about 2 hours (this includes two buses and a train). So, we were going to get on the 9:35 bus to get started.

When we got to the bus I realized I forgot my eye drops (needed for dry eyes). I had 5 minutes to get them… so off I dashed, back to the house. I was home and back by 9:32 and the bus was still at the stop! Or so I thought – the bus that was there wasn’t the same bus!! It was the next bus that wasn’t scheduled to leave for another 20 minutes! And the one carrying my family had left THREE minutes early. Course, now I was sweating in my wool sweater, down coat, and scarf (it was under 40 degrees this morning…) and I was mad that the guy had left early. EARLY!! Really?? In Italy?? Unheard of!

But there I sat, on the 9:50 bus…and this driver didn’t leave until EXACTLY 9:50. On the way down the hill I was listening to praise music, trying not to be anxious about missing the 10:28 train to Pisa. Grace was calling to keep me posted on what platform the train was on, and what car they were in.

The normal 20 minute ride to the transfer spot was taking longer than usual…. And of course, I was on the bus that needed to switch drivers – sitting in the seat near the front, I had to keep myself from huffing loudly as the two drivers exchanged pleasantries. “Lord… maybe I’m going to miss this train because you want me to be alone today…” But, as we pulled to the stop, my next bus was sitting in front of us and I was able to jump on - 10 minutes before my train was to leave… Standing on the swaying bus, I thought that this was just God’s hand, gently teaching me to just “relax”! (How many of you just love to hear someone say, “relax” when you’re all wound up??)

Somehow, the voice of God actually does help me to relax. So many times in this strange and wonderful country, there is just nothing one can do to change a situation… might as well just go with it. Of course, we hit every light on the way to Santa Maria Novella train station and I leapt off the bus with 3 minutes to get to the train. Oh yeah… it was on the farthest track from the bus stop. As I walk-jogged trough the terminal, I was thankful for the freezing temperatures that occupy the place. I boarded the train with just one short minute to spare. Whew!!

So, our little foursome is back together… sitting in our little quad-seat section, facing each other. Mark and Em have assumed their normal train positions of dozing while Grace and I talk quietly. The conductor comes in to check our tickets and when we hand them to him he looks at them for a long time – always a signal that something is not quite right. Then he asks why we have a 20% discount on our tickets… since I wasn’t there when Mark bought the tickets, I have no idea. So, I wake up Mark and he says, “Well, the ticket booth machine gave me the option of a 20% discount and I thought, ‘Sure!’” The Trenitalia guy tells us that the discount is for persons under 25 who have a special card and that we have to pay the difference at the station before we make our return trip. Do I not look under 25??

All Aboard

We arrive on time to Pisa and have a lovely time with Jessica. While the air is quite cool, the sun is shining! I have learned to be thankful for the weather in So. Cal., but that’s another blog!

After lunch Jessica drops Mark and me off at the beach to walk along the water. It’s crowed with other people looking to soak up a little sun on this nice day. We have a general idea of where to catch a bus back to the train station, but don’t know exactly. I only have to ask for directions once and we find the stop. Miraculously, the bus pulls up only a minute after we get there.

When we get to the station we have to exchange those troublesome tickets so we jump in line. We see that we have about 10 minutes til the next train to Florence leaves. We finish our transaction there with only 2 minutes to spare and take off running for track #4. We leap onto the train just as the whistle blows and as we sit down we give each other a victory knuckle bump! Im thinking to myself that except for this morning, the day has gone off without a hitch.

Then the train starts to move…. In the WRONG direction!! We look out the window and see track #4 right across from us and figure out we are going to La Spezia… Well, Mark starts the laugh attack that lasts us almost to the next stop. We decide to get off and take the next train back in the other direction.

the deserted station, in the wrong direction!

The station is completely deserted and in a very sketchy part of town. But we look on the screen and see that a train will be by on track 2L in about 6 minutes. We discuss the fact that our track says #2, but since the station is so tiny we figure we must already be on #2L. We stand there and watch a train (that looks more like a long bus) pull by a track about 100 yards away and wonder what that little train is. Then Mark uses his eagle-eye vision to see that the train just left track 2L…. another laugh attack!! Now I am thanking God for such a wonderful, go-with-the-flow husband. Many men I know of would have been furious.

To put you out of your misery, I will just tell you that we finally arrived BACK in Pisa exactly one hour after we left. The rest of the journey home was, for the most part, seamless. And yours truly has more patience and stamina than I did 24 hours ago.

So much of this Italian journey seems to include God’s hand helping me to trust Him even more in the little things – to not try to put my own agenda before His; to let God be God in my life rather than my feeble attempt to control my own life. I thank Him for today!!

And, I will thank Him when I get back to the USA and get to drive myself around!!