The End of Round One: July the last month

The End of Round One: JULY  2010 the last month…

“So what do you want to do today” I ask my 10 year-old, for we are about to spend a week just the two of us, while his brothers are away.

“I want to fart on your face!”

 “Well, let’s see, what is the punishment for farting on someone’s face?” I ask

“To fart again on their face!”

He looks up at me and bats his almond shape baby-blue eyes with a sly, yet irresistible smirk, and says, I know you can’t be mad that I just said I want to fart on your face. And he is absolutely right. I can’t, I laugh and laugh, and threaten to shoot him with a Nerf gun! These boys are special, extremely intelligent and witty little shits. After spending April May and June engulfed in my own life, running around with our group of 8 girlfriends like school children loose at Disneyland; parting at least 4 nights a week until all hours of the night,  I have taken a vow to remain at home as much as possible for the next 30 days until I leave for California on July 22^nd (and accomplish a much needed detox as an added bonus).

The thing is, in Rome I really haven’t been much of a homebody. Actually I’ve never been much of a homebody. I would like to stay at home when I am at my mother’s house. It’s so beautiful there, with Friday happy hours and weekend BBQ’s with all her lovely friends, soon enough.

One afternoon Bea and I were lying out by the pool (which I found out later I was not allowed to have friends at the pool, well one time didn’t kill anyone). There was a boy in his late twenties who over heard us speaking English, he came over and in perfect American English introduced himself, he was spending the summer right in my complex with his grandma. I was shocked and incredible grateful for God blessing me with a friend at the perfect time .

Danni grew up in Ethiopia, but now lives in Australia; he went to college in Canada and loves to travel the world. He is incredibly intelligent and extremely outgoing and confident, so together you could only imagine the conversations we would have. He was staying with his 92 year old grandmother who wanted him home and in bed by 9pm, so every night after dinner, Danni would kiss grandma goodnight and pretend like he was going to bed, then this 26 year-old man would sneak out of the house and meet me at the front gate for drinks down the street at our local bar! We were like little teenagers, laughing and whispering down the street, I was so grateful to have a friend like him for the summer, and he truly was just a friend (understanding the western mentality of men and women actually being equals and friends). Leading up to my long awaited trip home to meet Milana…

Home was amazing… simply amazing.

When I was at the airport a very good looking man in his late thirties asked me to stay just one extra night in Rome. They had over booked the flight and they would give me  a first-class up grade, $600 dollars and a hotel room at the beach. The first thing out of my month was, “I haven’t been home for one year, I have not met my baby niece,  and I have not seen a single member of my family for one whole year! There is no way in hell I’m not getting on that plane today.”

Later I must admit I do regret the $600 extra dollars, and with in the first 20minutes of the flight I missed my first-class update. Oh well, all in all it was worth it.  Watching my mother’s face turn white when she saw me for her birthday surprise, and Milana crying because Auntie ColeCole was a bit to excited when I got off the plane and screamed when I saw her.

My family, is the biggest blessing in my life. The first week I arrived at home I did not turn on a computer or check a phone for 4 days. It was glorious. I made a promise that for one week I would not tell a single soul that I was home.

 I spent the first few days at my brother and Nini’s house getting to know the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. She is brilliant, and I know everyone thinks their baby is beautiful, but really she is stunning. Big round baby blue eyes and the perfect button nose (she didn’t get that from our side that’s for sure). She stops traffic in public. People comment daily on how cute she is. Her personality is showboat drama queen, Princess Milana, as she should be. She loves to be the center of attention and she will dance and laugh for you as long as you like. She is a joy and she’s going to be a cheerleader. Not that she has to be, but she likes to cheer. I couldn’t remember the words to any nursery rhymes, it was my third day with her, her mommy was cutting Jackie’s hair and she wouldn’t stop crying. So I did what any other ex-cheerleader of 10 years would do, I sang her cheers… Ohh she just loved it! And from then on, Milana and I would spend our afternoons yelling G-O let me hear you say GO, GO, that’s right unite, let me hear you say Fight… and so on…

While I was home I had a 13 day road trip with my two best Italian girl friends that I met my very first summer in Napoli 3 years ago, and my adorable friend from England I met a few months back in Rome.

Vegas

Added 2200 miles onto my car, we toured all of California ending in Las Vegas. Let’s just say, turning 27 with 8 of your girls in Las Vegas makes for a few memories, just a few. But as you know… what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, unless your Bea, then it gets published on Facebook;). With all of my girl-friends from around the world together for my birthday made me the luckiest girl in the world. Really lucky because I did lose my iphone and camera in one of the biggest clubs in vegas, and somehow found them by the end of the night. Vegas when you are 21 and Vegas when you are 27, are a world of difference.

Oh God 27, 27 Twenty-F-ing-Seven. I cannot believe that I am minus three from 30. I have noticed I am starting to mature emotionally and signs of maturity have come in little lines around my face, not to mention the new addition “heal cracking”. In which this hideous callous forms and then proceeds to brake itself at the heal of my foot. Incredibly Sexy, sorry Mom for always making fun of your feet, I guess that’s what I get.

As I prepare for Round Two of Rome, it feels different now. I have changed. How could I not, I feel stronger, very strong on my own, giving me a sense of contentment and peace in knowing that this is the perfect choice for me right now in my life. I know this is where I am suppose to be, and being confident in the decision I made comes from a greater understanding of myself and a great faith that if God can take care of the birds in the sky then surly he can take care of me. And He has, unfathomably.

Bring on… Round Two.