12K

milling around the princess is checking out the competition 

wow, she’s doing this? yep, that’s my girl.

let’s get behind the running groups, ok? there’s the gun! off!

whoo-hoo! i made it running all the way out of the gate! ok i can walk now

the princess is still running--she’ll be fine 

there are 700 other people in this race she won’t get lost

i gotta feeling, that today’s gonna be a good race, that today I’ll have a good good time

i just got passed by a 6-year-old, that’s embarrassing

why am i doing this again?

because i can can can--and that’s one mile down

really? 2k already? i must be doing better than i thought

ooh my legs should stop hurting soon

see that girl, watch that scene, I am the walking queen!

and i can can can--three miles! whoo-hoo!

almost 4 miles? it’s only been 50 minutes I AM FLYING!!!!

water...over halfway...i am going to beat my time

i wonder how princess is doing?

life is an autostrada...i’m gonna walk it all day long

this is a really pretty walk i wonder what mountain range that is?

I’ve got a dream, i’ve got a dream...i just want this race to be over I want to scream

are we there yet? oh, there’s the pisa city limits sign

i can do this, i can do this, i can do this, i can finish this race

down the hill, up on the sidewalk, OUCH down on my knees--i’m ok i’m up

yes i tore holes in my pants

i can’t quit i’ve only got 2 kilometers left

oh this sidewalk goes on forever

it’s been a hard day’s walk...

i want to laugh i want to cry stop thinking and move

is this the last turn? YES

into the corto di miracoli...i can run just a little...ok maybe not

walking...walking...almost there...

GO LAURA!! GO LAURA!!

GO MOMMY!! GO MOMMY!!

oh, that is the sweetest song I have heard all day

shall i finish rocky style? yes

hands in the air i will run across the finish line

yes i beat myself by four whole minutes

where is the princess?

where is the husband?

where is the water?

where is the bathroom?

i am done.

The Year of Last Things

Just over a month ago, I took my son’s picture on his first day of kindergarten. He was standing on our front porch steps, under the Texas flag (were there any doubts?) in the same place I have taken his sister’s first day of school picture every year for the past six years. As I took the picture, I started to cry. Not because it was his first day of kindergarten--ok, partly because of that--but because that is the last first day of school picture I will take on those front steps. Next year on the first day of school we will be Somewhere Else. And I have no idea where that is.

This year will be full of Last Things. The last opera in Verona. The last PWOC Fall kickoff, during which I was gratefully so busy I forgot to think about it and therefore did not spend the whole morning in tears. The last Christmas here--hopefully I can FINALLY get to a midnight mass, because it’s my last chance. The kids will have their Last Day of School--and that will be it for Vicenza. There will be one last trip to Venice--and then we will be off to a new adventure.

Why am I spending all this time crying over this? The military life is very transitory; people move ALL THE TIME. We will probably move every three years for the rest of our foreseeable future. Why does this one move affect me so much? Probably because we’ve been here so long. My daughter has lived here more than half her life. This is the only home my son has known (the United States is a foreign country to him.) I have lived in this place longer than I have lived anywhere since 1987. 

Italy has become my home. And while part of me looks forward to the next great adventure that God and the Army have for us, part of me will be looking around sadly as I treasure my Year of Last Things.