The Italians are Coming!
Well, I'm sorry. I don't have any good excuses for taking 3 months off from blogging. Italy has been keeping me busy, but not that busy, and taking a break to write every once in a while could have been just the break I needed. But I didn't take it. In the way one feels that she has not been a faithful mail correspondent, yet keeps putting off writing again for fear that it's too late, I have avoided blogging. But here I am, I'm back at it, and I'm also home in Indianapolis again.It's hard to make a list of all of the things that have happened in these three months (there were so many!), and it's probably pointless to even try, but I'd like to at least mention the highlights. These three months have been brimming with travel experiences (you may have seen already my mention of the Tuscan town Pitigliano over at The Long Trip Home travelblog), work experiences, visits from friends, and many many weddings. My friend Allison came in early May, and we took a whirlwind-style Italian tour of Venice, Assisi, and Rome, fitting everything we could into seven short days. After that, my friend Karoline and I had an American/Canadian bakesale at the multicultural fair in the town Karoline lives in. It was a huge success--people especially loved the brownies.
Other happenings include finally finishing the apparent 3 months (that lasted 6 months) of lettrice at the elementary and middle schools, making progress on the job front with various web site design positions, putting up the newest edition of The Long Trip Home--a tribute to Venice, taking an anniversary trip to Pitigliano, in the hidden hills of southern Tuscany, going north to Bagnacavallo in Emilia Romagna to celebrate our friends Cyndi and Danilo's marriage, and finally, my American friend Kelsey's arrival in Italy for a month of work in the town of Pollenza.
In between all of these events was a flurry of activity representing Antonello and my upcoming religious ceremony. From having the festive confetti prepared to printing out, one by one, the invitations I had designed, there has been a constant reminder of this upcoming event in our house. Gifts purchased for the bridesmaids dance around the edges of the guest room, while empty envelopes and half printed invitations litter the living room. By the time I left for America (two days ago), we were at the worst stage, where the entire guest room had been turned into an extra large suitcase where we would drop everything wedding-related, not noticing the sheer size of it, or even considering how exactly everything would fit into our luggage.
And then, at last, was the trip to Rome with Antonello, my flights to Detroit, then Chicago, and finally--familiar faces greeting me at the airport telling me in tangible ways that here I was again, a year later, at home.
But my husband still has to make his journey. Antonello is arriving in two weeks, with two Italians with him, ready to make the trek into unknown territory--Chicago. These next two weeks will be filled--really filled--with preparations. But in it all is a sense of happy purpose: the wedding is a reunion of family and friends. It's a destination wedding, really--for we have come all of this way, from Italy to Indianapolis, to celebrate.
-Jackie
