I won’t see her again until May when she gets out of school since she is not planning to come home for Spring break.

guy liner n: eyeliner for men

or…

kiss and cry n:  the area where competitive figure skaters wait with their coaches to receive scores from judges

And my personal favorite that finally gives a name to my teenage daughter’s room…

Floordrobe n: The floor of a room, littered with discarded clothing. See image below.

Floordrobe: teenage girl's room littered with clothing

You see,  Paul and I have been frequent victims of identity theft.

All we have to do is use our credit card in a restaurant and a week later we are getting charged for hotel rooms in Brazil or jewelry purchases in Denmark. It is such a hassle to deal with. We have to call the bank, cancel the cards and then wait for replacements in the mail. This is especially annoying and inconvenient when a bank debit card is involved. It was happening so often that it got to the point where we finally had to get serious about stopping it. That’s when I discovered IdentityHawk, experts in identity theft protection. Not only are they identity theft recovery experts, they prevent identity theft from happening in the first place by continually monitoring your risk and offering proactive advice on reducing your risk. And they offer $1 Million zero-liability identity theft insurance. There’s no deductible and you are protected against identity theft costs I never really considered like legal defense fees and lost wages. Hopefully it will never come to that. And maybe they can figure out all of those iTune charges.

Then it came time to shop for the frames and I got a headache. If you have ever had to order glasses, you know what I mean. It’s almost as painful as choosing a couch or making any  style decision that takes a lot of thought and lasts a for a long time. (I’m still questioning my choice of a plaid love seat I bought 20 years ago. What was I thinking? )

We browsed through the optical department at the optometrist’s office and found a lot of designer frames that all cost a fortune. I just couldn’t spring several hundreds of dollars for frames that I feared Eva might lose, or worse, have stolen, which apparently is a very common problem. No matter how much Eva assured me, “Mom, these glasses are going to make me look sooo smart,” I just couldn’t do it.

We came home empty handed. Then I looked online and found GlassesUSA.com. Here I was able to find the same designer frames at a fraction of the cost. I know it sounds weird to order glasses online, but I did it and I can honestly say it was a fun and easy experience. We used our webcam so Eva could virtually try on frames and faxed them our prescription. Since we are two family household and items are often left at Dad’s house, I ordered two pairs of glasses using the buy one get one free BOGO sale coupon. I entered the code BOGOUSA and received a second pair free.  We should have the glasses in a few days. We can take the glasses to our optometrist for fit adjustments and if for any reason we are not satisfied, GlassesUSA offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. I told Eva that by using this service and saving money, not only will she look smarter, she is smarter.

You see, I miss Sophia. But somehow, I don’t think she’s missing me. And quite frankly, I’m relieved, because I was afraid that she would and that would have been awful. She’s not homesick in the least. The day before we left her at school she was weepy and anxious about me leaving. I assured her once we separated she would be fine. She has a four day break this week and I told her if she wanted to she could fly home for the weekend. That reassured her.

Today she informed me that she was going to Washington to her friend’s house for her break.

“How are you going to get there?” I inquired.

“My friend has a car.”

“How long of a drive is it?” I gulped anxiously.

“Five hours.”

“Make sure you wear your seat belt,” my timid, lame response.

What more could I say? She’s an adult now. No further interrogation from me. What I don’t know is probably best.

When I think back to my own college years and the bomb of car I drove it’s a wonder I survived. No seat belts. The brakes didn’t always work. Seriously. My parents let me drive this clunker. (They also let us play with dart guns.) And the passenger door would occasionally fling open. It was advised to not sit too close.

What I don’t know is probably best.

It rained today. Paul made a fire in the living room. I cooked meatloaf, mashed potatoes and maple glazed carrots for dinner. We have three kids left at home, which is more than most people have to begin with, yet the house seems so empty to me.

Jared, Eva’s dad, and Keith, his partner, decided to drive up early to have dinner in the city. Sophia called me to tell me she wanted to go with them and invited Cheryl and Mark. Now that in and of itself is noteworthy because Jared has always been so kind and generous with my stepkids. He’s like their uncle, which I guess is the best way to describe his relationship to them. Paul and I drove up separately and waited patiently in baggage claim at the foot of the escalator. We joked. We laughed. We waited with bursting excitement and anticipation. We couldn’t wait to see Eva.

And there she was. Excited to see us too and smiling sheepishly at the large entourage waiting to greet her. It was a warm welcome for sure. Cheryl noticed her first and rushed to give her a big hug and then Eva warmly embraced her other two siblings, high fiving her “bro” Mark. It was very sweet.

We collected her luggage, got her a drink at Starbucks and drove home to meet up at the Santa Cruz Diner so Eva could have an American hamburger.  We heard all about her amazing trip. The “genie” pants she bought at the Arabian flea market, the delicious ice cream, the paella, the bullfight, the churros, her lovely host family and all of the new friends she made.

She came home bearing gifts. Mine was an azucar bowl. Doesn’t it match my kitchen counters beautifully? I love it. I’m so happy she’s home and thrilled she had such a great time. She really embraced the culture and for that I am very thankful and proud of her.

Eva: mom this is important!

okay so my flight was cancelled because there was something wrong with the engine. so continentel made everybody get their luggage and we took a shuttle to a really nice hotel in madrid near the airport. ´They are paying for our one night stay and a buffet dinner. I know you are probably freaking out right now but everything is going to be okay. do not come and pick me up at the airport today!!! i wont be there.

i need to make sure you get this in case i cant find a pay phone but currently i am writing to you on one of the hotels computers. tomorrow i am going to wake up at 7 and the shuttle will drive everyone to the airport for a 9 o clock flight to newark. and i think my san francisco flight will stay the same

i will need to check my bag again and basically do the same process but that is okay because i did it today and im not worried

just know im not sobbing or nervous and what you need to do is pick me up at the airport tomorrow. just one more day in madrid hah. and there are other people from a different study abroad group that i became friends with that were also on the flight

i will have to just call yopu when i get to newark with sophias phone but this hotel is like 5 star! it has a game room and i have a double bed. i met a really nice man who helped me with my luggage and there is a group called lPI that i hung out with once and one of the guys is here too. im going to eat a big buffet dinner then watch spanish sponge bob.love you

i have my passport. my door locks automatically. by nice guy i ment nice guy not creepy pedophile. i know self defense im fine.one of guys from LPI. its like sol abroad and we hung out in granada.

ps. im awesome

This was Eva’s end of the exchange. My interspersed comments were something to the effect of, “What do you mean ‘nice guy’ helped you with your luggage?” And, “Where’s your passport? Don’t lose that again.”

I managed to get the name of her hotel and called her. She answered, “Hola.” We talked for about 45 minutes. I asked her to tell me in one word how she would describe her trip. Her response, “Amazing.”

What I found remarkable was how self-assured and confident Eva was that she could handle the situation. Earlier I had phoned her Sol Abroad program director to see if she could help, but she was already en route back to Granada. Eva was literally alone. There was no one there to help her. She had to figure out on her own what to do. At 15. She is, indeed, awesome.

We are all driving up to San Francisco to pick her up from the airport tomorrow evening. However, there was some concern that she would have to delay her returning flight because last week her father and I received the dreaded international phone call… “Eva’s passport has been stolen.” My heart stopped. How? Where? What happened? It turns out she and her friends wanted to take a dip in the river and left their bags on the river bank and looked away for a split second, and poof, her bag was stolen. (Note to self, do not carry passport with you.)

I told Eva through her tears that is was an unfortunate life lesson and we are just so grateful that she is safe. Her father wired her more money and I extend major kudos to Sol Abroad for reacting quickly and handling the passport replacement process. Eva got a new one in three days.

As I write this, my daughter is en route for her journey home. She is on an overnight bus ride from Granada to Madrid. From there she will catch her flight to Newark, NJ and then connect to San Francisco which is 1.5 hours from our house. That means she will be traveling for over 30 hours when she gets home tomorrow evening. (I hope she has some Justin Bieber movies to watch.)

I was able to IM her on Facebook this morning and she told me she was sad to be leaving. She made so many friends that she is afraid she will never see again. I told her, “Ya never know. You just might cross paths with them someday, particularly the ones who live in California.” Eva also told me she feels very “cultural,” she loved her host family and she’s really taaaaaan.  At the risk of sounding “mom like” I told her  that she had a life changing experience and that I was so proud of her.

It was life changing for me too because I know when Eva comes home I will see a different child, one who is more mature, confident and self-assured, with apparently, a really great tan. I asked Eva if she got taller and she replied,”I’m pretty sure I’m done growing.” And I thought to myself, “Yeah maybe, but only on the outside.”