“There is no place like home.” I may have waited my whole life to be able to say that…

I never imagined being in Italy on vacation with my family and longing for home. It was a really challenging trip. Not to mention the string of bad luck that hovered over us the entire time. Funny enough before leaving LA David was given some cool beads to wear around his wrist that were supposedly blessed by the Dali Lama. No disrespect at all to his holiness but I was a bit skeptical. First we missed our connecting flight from Paris, then my bags never made it to our final destination. I lost my wallet (full of cash and credit cards) and our car broke down on a dark & dangerous Italian road. A cold front rolled into the island and we spent our vacation cooped up indoors with disappointed intentions to be on a boat enjoying the Mediterranean Sea. I spent 10 minutes out of 9 days in the water, my kids watched Shark Tale 15 times, and we never adjusted to the jetlag so most of our days were spent sleeping till noon. After my friend got violently ill at the restaurant table, I thought ‘what would this scenario be like as a sitcom episode?’

16th hr in Paris…killing germs

I checked the weather app on my phone in hopes for the some good news. David and I exchanged that you-gotta-be kidding-me look as he drove towards the darkening clouds. I’m not really a believer in superstitions, but at that point I needed to blame something. The beads on his wrist were sticking out like a mother carpooling in stilettos (yes, that is often me and don’t think I don’t notice the glares!) David tried to pull the beads off but they were tangled around his other leather wristbands like a boa constrictor suffocating his prey. I reached over and ripped the beads off and threw them out the car window! …Try explaining that one to the silent peanut gallery in the back seat.

Usually I am ringing out the final moments of vacation, wishing I could slow the hands of time. But, in this case our 19 hr, 3-plane travel day home could not come soon enough.

I took a bunch of pictures on my phone that I intended to share with you, but I dropped it and shattered the glass so I cannot retrieve the photos. Go figure!
Looking back, there were many comedic moments and everyone handled the situation pretty well. I usually am the optimistic one, but this trip got me.

In a word, LAME!!!

When I asked Rain (my most diplomatic child) what she thought of Italy… a picture is worth a thousand words!

We are so happy to be home and we’re appreciating the many things we took for granted every day. We spent the weekend with our extended family, cooking swimming, and catching up. The past 2 weeks confirmed my belief that you do not have to go far for good times. I should have listened to my own choir.