Such a world

I flew home from San Francisco last evening, and now I have to put the book project aside for a few weeks to dive into an assignment that came my way the day before I left for the Bay Area. It's Sunday, and I'm exhausted down to my bones for some reason, maybe nothing more that cross-country travel and a touch of jet lag, but there will be no rest for my weary today.

Last night at 2 a.m. New York time I got a series of texts from my daughter who is traveling with a few of the students from her program in Sorrentino, Italy. They said, "Mom, I miscalculated with this trip and ran into a lot of surprise costs and now I am sort of out of money." "Is it possible to wire some?" "I'll pay you back."

I texted her back, "Are you in trouble? How quickly do you need it? How much do you need? This minute or is later today okay?" She didn't respond for over an hour, during which time I lay awake in the dark making up all sorts of dire scenarios in that catastrophic brain of mine, because I knew if there were trouble, this casual tone might be how she would pitch it, not wanting to worry me. (Although I do hope she would just tell me if there was a problem. I'm always better when I know what I'm dealing with.) Anyway just as I was starting to swirl my imagination into a panicked frenzy, producing actual symptoms like a racing heart and a pulse thudding loudly at my temples, she texted, "I'm not in trouble!" "No trouble!" "Smiling and safe!" And she sent a picture to prove it. Does she know her mother or what?

My husband is the one with the link to her bank account, so I asked him in the dark if he could transfer some money to our girl in the morning. He stirred from sleep and mumbled that he'd been checking her account daily to make sure she still had funds but had stopped a few days ago because she'd been managing so well. Then he groggily reached for his phone and in less than a minute, he'd made the transfer. She got it immediately and texted us effusive thanks. Such a world we live in!

She told me that their group of six young women is staying at an Airbnb, and apparently the owner is being like an aunt to them, driving them around, making sure they don't get lost. She said Sorrento might be the most beautiful place she has been. How lucky they are, or rather how lucky I am to be able to rest easy in the knowledge that they are being looked out for. The truth is, the world is a far kinder place than the steady torrent of horrendous news stories would have us believe. Today they take a boat ride to Capri, or maybe given the time difference they've already gone and returned and are on their way back to Rome now so as to be there for class on Monday morning.

They have one more week and then they fly home. The month went at warp speed, as everything in my life seems to these days. Where did I read recently that mindfulness can slow down the speed at which time unfolds? To the wise one who wrote that, thank you for that needed reminder.