Mama's Musings

Viva Italia

Italy was scrumptous. The weather was delicious, the people friendly, and we had the time of our lives. Again. We just love the country so much!

As my husband pouted over his breakfast this morning, I told him how delightful it was to live so close to paradise. So what if we came home to a thunderstorm which poured buckets onto our lawn furniture. We had options, lots of options. We could go visit the sun any time we want. We know where it lives. It resides in Italy.

A few pictures of our escapades sum up the experience.

 

London Fog

London was fantastic. Visiting my dear friend, Amy, was salve to my soul.

The fog has lifted, but I will tell you! Whew! My friends and I agree we are getting older. We can feel it in our bones. In fact, we all took a nap at one point at 7 p.m. and slept two hours before heading out for dinner. Could it be that five hours of sleep just won't cut the mustard anymore?

In other ways, I feel more resilient than in my youth. After five hours of sleep, I usually had the luxury of taking a long nap or going to bed early. It seems now I don't ever catch up until my in-laws take over the kids for a weekend and I snore my way into Monday. Sad, but true.

Or maybe our utter exhaustion has something to do with burning our candles at both ends with enormous responsibilities at work, at home, with friends and family. It appears that life is not as casual or nearly as carefree as those days when we did not realize what being truly bone tired meant.

Fun in London

Finally! Six months after planning this trip, I am going to meet my buddy in London for some girltime and fun. We haven't seen each other since last July so I'm looking forward to playing catch up in a local café.

She and I are both so sleep-deprived and with her jetlag, we might just spend half the time sleeping! I promise not to talk about teaching, marketing, books, or writing and she has to promise to keep off-topic with architecture, design or anything remotely to do with Washington, DC!

Can you tell I am excited?

ET Phone Home

That adorable little early 80's hobbit, the one with the glowing finger tip, the one that made us believe in magic all over again, he's in his mid-twenties now. He has moved well beyond the teen years and into adulthood. Welcome, ET, to the 21st Century.

He was the one who encouraged us all to call our mothers. ET engenders a sense of being lost, then found through the affection of little children.

On any given day, I can communicate with England, the United States and my next-door neighbor. I can call Amsterdam, Oregon, and Atlanta all within an afternoon. Today I heard from a friend I haven't seen in two years. She has had two babies since then and finds herself with an almost attained medical degree while traipsing about Zürich, Switzerland with her two tots in tow. Her husband received a fellowship to learn this or that about something or other and she just called to chat and see when on Earth she can finally see something beyond her four walls in a town that doesn't speak her language.

Oh! Lord, I have been there.

There are days when calling your mommy is the best you can do. I haven't felt that way lately, but I wonder when the next attack of "Can you believe these people who have forgotten how to smile or, better yet, never learned the craft?" Germany can be an unwelcoming place. Or can it? It depends on how you react to what is happening around you.

My children surprised me by waving to a perfect stranger on the autobahn today. His arm was dangling out the car window ("Huh! Mama, he's not allowed to do that!") and garumphing about the guy in front of him. As we merged into his lane at a snail's pace in the mid-morning traffic, my children beamed at him, waving and greeting him with such unabashed joy that he couldn't help but smile, guiding his lanky arm in a gesture of uncommon friendliness.

What is home? A place where you feel happy, secure, wanted and adored. After seeing my children welcome the grumpy cum grinning stranger on the autobahn, it occurred to me that they feel a sense of attachment to this place. They love their friends, their school, their lives. And so do I.

No need to phone home, I suppose. I'm already there.