Arrivederci!

We leave tomorrow for destinations of Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi, Lucca and Florence. We leave with some apprehension. I always feel some anxiety for my pets left at home. Even more so, with one dog and cat at home, and the pup with another family. I know they will all be fine but I can't help it. I worry about my Mom, left at home, neither my sister nor I will be home to check up on her. I worry about how crazy I was to accept a position as a camp counselor and leave for the beach barely 24 hours after we get home from Italy. I worry about being a camp counselor for high school kids. I worry about leaving camp early to come home for the surgery. I worry about the surgery and recovery. So, I sit here and drink a beer. I think about how I'm going to change my attitude towards some of my travel partners, and recognize their goodness underneath their demons that I do not understand. I think about wonder and hope I can teach my children to just stop and wonder, look, listen, smell. I want to lay on the floor and look up at the Sistine chapel, I want to see, again, the Trinity by Masaccio, I want to smell the Pharmacia de Santa Maria Novella, I want cappucinos, pasta, tartufo, and wine. I want to experience new and relive some of the old. It will not be the same trip I took years ago, but it will be wonderful because we will make it so.

I will not post for some time unless I have a rare opportunity. You can be sure I will keep a journal, I will take photos, and just like the Terminator - "I'll be back".