It has been a week since I got back from a brief amazing race like tour of Europe. I really didn’t want to go at first, since I would not be with Sky for the whole 16 days of the trip.
But, I am glad that I did.
As much as I wanted to blog while we were there, it turns out that getting online is not as easy and is very expensive for most part of Europe. And to top it all of, all you want to do at the end of every tour day is rest and sleep.
- Chapel Bridge in Lucerne, Switzerland
I still have tons of pictures to sort and go through, making up and getting back on track with work was what kept me busy as soon as we came back. I have gone abroad a lot of times, but London and some parts of Europe had an echoing effect on me.
It is where I discovered myself again.
After the heartaches and all the stuff that I have gone through, I have boxed myself to be just a single mom who is trying her best to survive and enjoy life with her son. Even if I do tell myself that I have a very well rounded life, it was kind of hard for me to fathom the very idea that I am still an individual.
Motherhood and parenthood does that to the most of us. You tend to FORGET who you are and who you want to be and go with the role that society tells you to be.
And it usually takes something or someone to get you out of your shell. I shall not name names, but for those who I have met on this tour may have a distinct idea of what I am talking about. So, let’s leave it at that.
For the past year, my force field goes up whenever a man shows just a SLIGHT interest in me. This time though, it was different. In a short run I did in London, as I waited for the traffic light to turn green for me to run. I heard someone say, “Hey you in blue, you shouldn’t be running on a Friday night! Come drink with me.”
Hell, was he talking to me?
Turns out that he was, I looked and just gave him a smile and a wave. And heard him say, “Oh, c’mon!” as I sped away.
It was flattering, but I was scared at the same time since the streets and the people are not very familiar to me.
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I learned to say Thank you when someone tells and even texts me every single day that I was “Bellisima,” in Italian it means “Very Beautiful”. The first time I was told right in my face. I froze and I didn’t know how to react.
Since I have stereotyped myself as a tomboy who happens to have a child. It was kind of difficult for me to think of myself as a WOMAN.
You know the first thing that came out of my mouth?
“Yeah right!”
But for almost every single day, he would tell me how beautiful I was. At one point he bluntly said, “You don’t know how bellisima you are. You are very nice, you have your own beauty.”
I guess it was just that knock on the door for me to wake up and embrace the old Gigi who used to be FEARLESSLY SPIRITED before she was brokenhearted.
As the trip went on, I found myself becoming more confident with just being me, even if most of the time I was just silly.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t afraid to speak and to act anymore.
In a way, Europe helped me get my mojo back.
And just in the nick of time. 
