The time is approaching fast to be back after all these weeks in another place. My place. The place I was born and raised in, where I became a teacher and made friends for life. A nice place, after all, like I think are many places on this planet and all places that someone gets to call home. I just happen to have two.
There are over 530 some pictures in the blog, all of them with a story and a nice memory attached to them. I have taken many more, but these give the idea of what happened here and things we have done and places we have been. When the last day of a long trip comes near, there are strange feelings that surround the air. I am grateful that my kids and my hubby are close by, as it will be strange to leave Rome once again, after I have grown accustomed to being Roman once again. We tried to make everyone happy, share good hopes for our lives and the future with everyone, and even though times may be tough we go on and sustain each other.
It was funny to reflect on so many aspects of Italian culture and ways of getting by, many that I knew from my previous life here and many that I have forgotten or grown distant to. Arranging the pictures and the memories in my mind many more will come to mind and I will share them again.
In Rome and though this blog, this year again, I have discovered once more the friendship and welcoming nature of people, whether they be my friends or family. So I would like to attempt to thank them all by naming all the individuals we have seen or heard this time around, and that one way or the other are tied to one or more pictures of this adventure, which will be left on this blog once I close it.
I am not sure how this will fit in the page, but I have thought about it a bit, so I will give it a try. It will be a memory for my kids for years to come, even though I know some of their friends will be staying in their own name-keeping places, like Face book. Here we go...I may have forgotten someone, but the wish was to mention all (and if you see that your name is missing you call me and I will add it to the spot).
Nonna Anna, Luca, Sara, don Carlo, Morino, Stefania, Giulia, Andrea, Nazareno, Giorgio, Daniele, Luana, Leonardo (Andrea), Lorena, Anna, Filippo, Paolo, Stefano, Francesco, Daniele, Luca, Marco, Alessandro, Agnese, Giorgiana, Daniele, Luca, Tonino, Valerio, Bruna, Alberto, Noemi, Alessandro, Roberta, Felipe, Pino, Isabella, Giovanni, Lalla, Massimo, Alessandro, Caterina, Concetta, Libero, Marilena, Federica, Marino, Lucia, Nicola, Teresa, Simone, Alessio, Davide, Elisa, Susanna, Ulisse, Francesco, Rebecca, Paolo.
I also hope this brief memory keeps alive the good stories and anecdotes we will share many times over with our family and friends back home. It was a pleasure to be in touch and know that many read through these lines. I plan to make a small publishing of this record, sooner or later. I still have a few pics left in me to take this morning before we close all bags, but that may be another story and another blog.
See you back home!
But I am thankful that all was fine, and that we concluded this experience in one piece and I am now able to officially close this blog. It was a pleasure to writeand force myself to reflect on what was going on everyday (or other day), so things will remain in history. Even our last long walk with my hubby along streets of Rome that are now truly inside my memory forever, we made it sure to stop and be amazed by the architecture of areas of the city that were kept as clean and as quiet as one can imagine, filled with the August heat and the occasional pedestrian, most often a tourist like us.
The kids are back most happy for their own beds in which they slept without interruption and noise their full night sleep last night. Mosquitoes welcomed us back home which was not as pleasant a return as one would have wished. But we have now stories to fill long talks around the table with the other family and friends we have here in Edmonton. I wish everyone a safe a restful summer break. Until the next one...
