Whats in a name?

Italian American born in New York, on Christmas Day, on the one year anniversary of the unexpected passing of my maternal grandfather. I have always felt my mother missed the mark when naming me. Something festive like "Holy Noel" Or Italian like "Angelina" Instead she named me Melissa. Growing up I met very few people named Melissa, none of whom became friends. In school everyone was named Jessica or Jennifer. Melissa just doesn't scream any ethnicity like "Erin" or "Liam" would. As an adult over the past few years I have met way to many people named Melissa. Every Melissa I have met is of a different ethnicity. From different places Such as: Greece, El Salvador, Uruguay, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Spanish, Caucasian, African American, Christian and Jewish. The name originally Greek means Honey Bee. I knew the name was Greek, and may explain why I felt the affinity to visit Greece so badly. Mythology says Melissa was the daughter to the King of the Greek Island of Crete and was the nymph baby nurse to Zeus. She fed him milk mixed with honey. She was apparently turned into a bee as punishment for hiding baby Zeus from his father, whom wanted him dead. Interesting because I am a baby nurse. I now embrace my name because of its diversity. I like the fact that by my first name alone you can not tell what ethnicity I am. My name is just like me, multi cultural, well traveled and full of meaning. My name didn't chose my destiny I chose my destiny.

Favorites

When it comes to family, everyone has a favorite, for me its my cousin Jason. Ten years older than me, he tormented me as a child. After graduation he went on to the NAVY and I watched him live out life on his terms. The first of our family to go to Europe, and visit Las Vegas, just to name a few of the cool things he did. With this influence I wanted to be like him when I grew up. As adults the ten years between us didn't matter anymore and we became close friends. Remaining close with our busy life's became easy because the universe kept bringing us together at unsuspected places without planning. Such as running into eachother on my lunch break at the hospital my first year as a nurse and even being at the Grand Canyon on the same day last year. He was visiting phoenix and I visiting Las Vegas. After losing my brother I now know why the universe kept bringing us together, because he would one day be the only man in my life. Last week at the age of 40 he got married and I gained a new cousin. My shrinking family is becoming whole again.

My Hero

I am lucky enough to witness the will and determination of premature babies on a daily basis,they are my heroes. With every breath they struggle to take and every swallow of milk I am reminded of just how awesome the spirit of the premature baby truly is. They never give up, complain or feel bad for themselves. I mean how could they, they are babies whom have never left the hospital. Some babies can stay in the NICU for up to 5 months, struggling to do the same things that come easy to their counterparts whom were born at term. I truly realized the struggles of these babies while training for my first half marathon. My out of shape lungs and sore muscles reminded me of what a premature baby goes through every minute of every day. Just breathing on your own with under developed lungs is like running a marathon without any training for premature babies. With our help these babies train to run the marathon of life outside of the NICU, One step at a time. Every time I am doing something strenuous I think of the determination and will power of the babies I care for, and it gets me through. When I think that I can not run one more minute because of soreness or shortness of breath, I think of them and it gets me through.

Topdeck Greek Island Hopping

Last month I finally went on the Greek Island Hopping Holiday I've been dreaming of as well as working two jobs to save for. After 20 extra shifts as a NICU nurse the trip was paid for. I chose to go with Topdeck Travel instead of my beloved Contiki travel company. The Topdeck tour was on land instead of a cruise ship and was half the price, spending more time in the islands. I booked the transfer from Athens airport to the Athens hotel starting point on Citydiscovery.com. Upon arrival a well dressed, good looking Greek man was waiting for me holding a sign with my name. I arrived to the hotel around 10:00am, just in time to have some breakfast from the hotels complementary buffet. My roommate had already checked in a few days before, therefore I was able to go to my room before check in to shower and nap before the 5:00pm group meeting. A huge blessing considering I would have had to wait until 3:00pm to check in. My roommate, a 24 year old girl from New Zealand also traveling alone. This her first such tour, me the season pro. With her calm energy and innocent smile, we hit it off right away. The first "Kiwi" friend I have ever made. Looking back my best memories over the ten day holiday were the late night girl talks in our hotel room. The closest thing to a sleepover a grownup can have. We all met that night at the group meeting, there was about 35 of us from all over the world. 2 Americans, 4 Canadian's 3 Kiwi's and the rest Australians. The one other American was a 29 year old girl from Kentucky, an attorney whom left her practice and sold everything to travel, my southern soul mate. Her passion for children, animals and world travel warmed my soul. I truly believe we were meant to meet. Every person on the tour was fun, care free and drama free. The average age was younger than I had expected, most people were early 20's. I the oldest girl of course with one guy older than me. Most people were backpacking for months at a time. I on the other hand was only there for that trip and still somehow had the most luggage. Most people chose the obviously better option of a backpack. If I could do It over again I would use the backpack option and pack less. When packing it never donned on me the amount of time I would be carrying the luggage myself from port to port between the islands. The first night and every night thereafter for the remainder of the tour we feasted on Greek cuisine, wine and shots. The tour manager, an authentic 36 year old Greek. His fun carefree spirit was contagious, I could not have asked for a better guide. He was also very cute, so that helps too. We did everything the brochure promised and more. The best part was no sales pitches like contiki tries to slip in everywhere at every chance. Every hotel was awesome through the trip. Every accommodation except Santorini was on the water. Because the tour was in October right before season end the weather was perfect, nowhere was crowded and many times we seemed to be the only guests in the hotels. This tour had plenty of free time for personal reflection, and relaxation. Every island was more beautiful than the last. I recomend doing as many extra group activities as possible, they were all awesome. Especially the sailing in santorini, with swimming in the hot spring and donkey ride. The entire holiday was like something from a movie, but it did come to an end. The only con of the entire trip was the 8hr transfer from santorini back to Athens. Staying longer in santorini and taking a plane would have been an option but would require leaving the awesome group of friends I just made even earlier. At the end we all exchanged contact information and will stay friends forever. In hopes of a reunion someday, somewhere, god willing.