Viva L’Esperienza! by Liimu

OMG, I am on my way to Italy! As a birthday present to me this year, my mother agreed to come up to Philadelphia from her home in North Carolina to watch the kids with my stepfather. My husband and I are about to enjoy TEN DAYS in Italy without the kids.

And I miss them already. (Imagine the sheepish grin on my face.) I know they feel the same way, because yesterday, as we sat enjoying airport sushi, my phone rang and it was my 7 year old daughter. I could barely understand her words through her sobbing, but I was able to glean that she was missing us already. She said every time she thought about the race (we ran the Race for the Cure together on Mother’s Day), she saw my face. I told her I felt the same way.

“Close your eyes,” I said. “Are they closed?”

“Yes.” (sob, sniff)

“Imagine I am hugging you tight, can you feel it?”

Silence, and then, “Yes.”

“Now imagine I’m nuzzling my face into your neck, now imagine I’m tickling you so you’ll stop crying!” She laughed a little bit.

She’ll be okay. I know she will. My mom raised me and my five siblings, and we’re all doing reasonably well. We’re all still alive, anyway. Kidding – we’re all doing very well.. And my sister and her 11 year old daughter have also promised to pitch in where they can.

The amazing thing about this vacation is not just that we are on our own for the first time in years. (The contrast between our airport check in experience yesterday and the one from last Christmas is uncanny. Think smart carte piled high with suitcases, strollers and knufflebunny. Think all five of us assigned seats in different parts of the plane, not even two together, thanks to the fact that we were flying at the height of the holiday season.) Yesterday, we were checked in and at the gate in about 20 minutes, no lie. But even more amazing than that is the fact that we are free from worrying about our children’s safety, thanks to the kindness and generosity of our family, who love them almost as much as we do and will definitely keep them safe. And thanks to that, we are free to really enjoy all that Italy has to offer.

Viva ‘L’Esperienza! Live the experience!!