As a wise woman once told me,* sheet happens. Sometimes it’s minor. Sometimes it’s major. But when you’re on the road and moving fast, you need to adapt on the fly. As I tell my kids, it’s all a life lesson.
Sometimes you’re the windshield, and sometimes you’re the fly. And sometimes, you’re the too-big van on the too-small road. On a related note, did you know Sorrento is Italian acronym, short for SOrry we REnted this car TO you. And now you know.
We’ve also got a list of things we just missed out on entirely, for one reason or another.
*This is a great story; one that has served me well as we’ve traveled both near and far: one day back in 2006, when we were about to have our second child, we took our toddler to Italy. Our Italian bullet train broke down (because, Italy) and we had to switch to an Express.
These instructions, delivered in heavily accented English, told us the platform and that the train would leave in 10 minutes. Adam missed that last part, though, and hustled his wife and child aboard the train sitting on the platform, then went back for the luggage. Of course, the train took off without him.
After picking my jaw off the floor, I tried to piece together my next move. The lovely woman across from me, who could tell I was deep in thought, asked me if I was OK, and when I told her what happened, she managed to persuade the unhelpful train conductor (using lots of fantastic Italian hand gestures) to put down his cigarette and phone the station. This done, she turned to me with satisfaction and said, “sheet happens!”