gettin' out.

Today makes me smile. I'm so sleeeeepy right now. Things don't happen unless you get out there and...oh what's that thing I read the other day. "When you do what you always do, you get what you always get." Michael Yaconelli quoted it in his book Dangerous Wonder. So, today I got out there and got pooped on and honked at. I shared lots of laughs with these PEOPLE that I get to share moments with. I watched in what seemed like slow motion as hot espresso and the ceramic cup that was holding to it sprayed and crashed to the ground thanks to physical story telling by yours truly. But still! New things!

And this: experiencing a child (or anyone!) learn is EXCITING.

Silvia sat on her bed this morning while I brushed her hair. We weren't carrying on a very specific conversation when she asked me, "Do you remember when it was 7:28?" She sighed dreamily and I smiled. She was talking about last week, when we were awake early enough on a SCHOOL day to be able to play time games at the breakfast table. Oh if we could only have 7:28 every morning... :)

While locking up my bike this afternoon I was called stupida. With good reason. I still feel kinda silly.

l'avventura del autobus

Ellie, Lindsay, and I made plans to hop on a bus and take a trip to Mondello for dinner and new scenery yesterday evening. I needed a good nap and wanted to buy MY TICKET HOME FOR CHRISTMAS so I told them to go ahead and that I would meet them there later. Around 7:30 I was all excited and ready to go. I walked to the closest bus station, scanned the buses for the right number, found the one, and hopped on. We were off! "Hmm.." I thought, "why is this bus taking me into town? Oh, perhaps it's because it's a weekend route." HA weekend route...so we got to one of the main piazzas in town and I decided to hop off and recheck the bus number. 102 HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE IT JUST SAID 544!!! Oh goodness. I started walking to a bus stop where I was sure I could catch the right bus. After waiting at least 15 minutes in the drizzle the correct bus pulled up and I hopped on, in the back, where there are no windows and the sea breeze could whip my hair! Alright, so we're chuggin along and I end up being the only person headed to Mondello for the night. But it's okay because at least I'm headed there! We're weaving through the city streets when we find ourselves in an impossible situation. The bus that I'm on and a bus headed in the opposite direction decide to try and fit at the same time down a very narrow street (think El Segundo with cars parked on both sides but smaller). NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. All the while there is this man smoking a cigarette walking back and forth behind me saying "bellissima" again and again. I was wishing for windows at that point. After a good chunk of confusion time my bus puts itself in reverse to make room for the next bus. Whew. We did it. I found the girls waiting for me at the mermaid fountain that is the center of Mondello. We had the nicest dinner in the upstairs section of a cozy restaurant where we could see the moon shining on the sea. We talked and talked and ate and ate. It was really fantastic. I could see the 806 bus back into town passing by below us every 20 minutes just like it was supposed to. After a bit I decided to check the time to make sure the bus I had just watched go by wasn't the last. OH. Five minutes to 11? Yeah, that was probably the last one seeing as how the schedule says that route finishes at 11. Well we laughed about it and decided to ask our friendly waiter about other buses and taxis. He was helpful but with bad news. Yes, that probably was the last bus and yes, taxis into town are quite pricey. BAH. We got gelato, because what else are you going to do at 11 in Sicily without a way home? Every time one of us would ask another what some of the flavors were like the server was very fast to scoop out a sample. I asked a lot ;) finally I had my cappucciono and nutella cone waiting to be devoured and Ellie says, "Oh, there's a bus..." but Lindsay's on it and notices that the 806 bus was just sittin' there waiting for our gelato and laughter filled selves to jump on it! We ran across the street and ran onto the bus and ran to the back to find seats. Sitting down in a cloud of giggles and sighs of relief we settled in for our safe and sure (or so we could only hope) trip home.

bigness

I sat on my skinny orange bed and prayed a little short prayer that really didn't do any sort of thoughts or feelings justice. I was going to go talk to Gabriella about coming home for Christmas and I wanted it to go smoothly.  Liiiiiiittle did I know that a few hours later I would be sitting across from her after having both shed tears. We talked a lot. This is largely deeper than a job. 

God's got something so MUCH bigger going on in this and that and over there and here and you and me and under and over!

Tonight's cut off moonshine, a star, and the building I'm living in.

baaarrrrrroooooom (thunder storm quaking things up!)

Tonight at dinner Gabriella sighed. A happy very very happy sigh. Then I sighed. Max sighed and we all looked to Silvia. She sighed a good one. Yeah, settling in is a day-by-day advancement but the past few days have been big ones. It's a crazy thing this my-purpose-is-to-be-a-part-of-this-family business. At least we know I can bring a true blue from deep down sigh to the table.

i love sugar.

Maestra Francesca gave me a plateful of sweets--frutta martorana (marzipan) and jelly candies--for All Saints' Day, I think.

Gabriella gave me a stick-bar of chocolate just because.

They're both gone gone gone.

biccicleta!!

I have a bike. It fits in little Italian elevators and makes my trip to the city center a bunch shorter. I rode my bike home from Lindsay's apartment (where she, Ellie, and I sat and chatted after eating gelato)  tonight laaate. The shining moon, brisk wind in my hair, physical OOMPH, and tunes in my ears made for dreamy pedaling. My bike needs a name.