Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! It's weird that I'm multiple time zones and an ocean away from my family today, as I would usually spend today having lunch with my wonderful mother and calling my relatives. Instead, I had a chill day in Budapest so I had a lot of time to reflect on how important this day is to me. If you're reading this solely for tales of my adventures, skip down to the last paragraph. Otherwise, please continue on.
Let me just start by saying how wonderfully blessedI feel today. I have a WONDERFUL mother whom I am extremely close to, and I wouldn't trade that for the world. I have no way to repay her for the YEARS of care, advice, and unconditional love that she has given me. There are some days when I was a complete terror, and I'm sure she was ready to tear her hair out, but she never did. She blames me for a couple 'grey hairs' that have supposedly appeared throughout my lifetime, but I remain skeptical. In all seriousness, my mother is an incredibly strong women who patiently answered millions of my questions about how things worked or why they were a certain way. She carted me around to church, school, and afterschool activities for years without so much as a single complaint to me. When I broke my arm a few weeks ago, I called her in the middle of a workday and she met me in the ER, AND proceeded to take care of me during the post-op fun, all while preparing me to leave the country. See? My mom rocks. That doesn't even begin to scratch the surface on how much she means to me and all of the things she's seen me through. ((Super shout out to mom for giving me my best friend for 12 years, Sandy, who I can't imagine my childhood without)).
However, my mom has also been wonderful enough to ensure that I am close to my fantastic stepmother and my two grandmothers, so I'm going to brag about them for a little while too. I'm not sure how many people get the chance to be so close to their stepmothers, but Evelyn has, ever since she married my dad, made sure to include me in EVERYTHING and making me really feel like a part of the family. She and mom have always made sure that I get the chance to be very involved in my sisters' lives as they grow up, and I love my sisters more than anything else. Evelyn has been there to teach me German, fix me macaroni and cheese countless times, and just sit and chat whenever I needed it. I have grown up with both a wonderful mother and stepmother to lean on whenever I need it. I feel so lucky and blessed, not to mention grateful! These two women have helped shape who I am today, and I can't thank them enough.
In addition, I have two caring, supportive, and overall wonderful grandmothers that have been so involved in my life from day one. Granny and Nana have always given wonderful advice and never fail to be there when I need a shoulder to lean on. I have spent many summer vacations at their respective houses going to church or watching fireworks with Granny, or learning the details of gardening and exploring colonial Williamsburg with Nana. I have so many memories of both of them that I treasure and hold close. I won the lottery of awesome Grandparents, and I am grateful for them every day.
Moral of the story? The Sutton and McPherson clans are the BEST. End of discussion. You won't find any better women than these.

Can you tell I miss my family? I feel like I could live in Budapest forever, but only if I could have my family here with me. I would seriously love to show mom around this city, but alas, I will have to bring her back here another time.

So this is the part where I tell you about my day. It's still weird that I'm eating lunch while everyone back home is still fast asleep. On days like today where I'm not in the hospital until 4, I seriously spent a good while trying to figure out why I hadn't heard from anyone back home until I realized that it was still 6 am EST. Whoops. Anyway, as I may or may not have mentioned in earlier posts, this weekend is FREE TIME. We got to pick what we wanted to do for TWO WHOLE DAYS. I can't stress how amazing that was. We got to decide when and where to eat, when to wake up, and where to go for 48 hours. AH! Today was rather cold, so other than going to the craft fair and leaving to eat lunch and dinner, we actually stayed in the hostel for the most part, reading books, and doing laundry.
Lest you be concerned that I did not have a cultural experience today, I shall assure you that I definitely did. If it hadn't been so cold and gloomy today, we were supposed to wander back to the city park today, but we used the weather as an excuse to relax. However, even relaxed people get hungry eventually, so we did emerge from the hostel for lunch around 1400. The first thing I noticed was that most stores, except the touristy ones, are closed on Sundays. Back home, everything is open pretty much 24/7, so this was a little bit of a change for me, but I really liked it. Sundays here are more of a family day where you go to the park or church instead of scattering to the four winds to run errands. Also worth noting is the fact that the language barrier has gotten a bit easier, because I know enough basic words to feel comfortable navigating and communicating in a basic manner with the locals. "Please, thank you, and hello", go a lot farther than you might think they would. But even if we don't share a common language, gestures and smiles seem to be a common ground. I have communicated with a good many people this way lately.
We did eat lunch at the Anna Cafe, next to Liberty Bridge today, overlooking the Danube River. I am LOVING this little square. It's always so pretty, and now I found  a vegetarian friendly cafe that tastes SUPERB. And, of course, I mean that their sandwiches were delicious, not the building itself. I had a goat cheese, roccula (arugla), and tomato sandwich that was to die for! Great food with and even better view! I don't think I could have asked for anything more wonderful today.
In conclusion, happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there, and I promise to keep you posted on my adventures in the military hospital tomorrow!
Love always,
Jessica

PS (Do I get any bonus points for posting this early for once instead of an hour late? ;) )

Also, one last shout out to Mom, our song!

                                   http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd9zYKLepCw