Wednesday, July 23

We are heading home today. I'm leaving with such mixed emotions. I honestly think I could live in Italy and be perfectly happy. If my family were there, I'd have no problems. Don't think I could be away from my children, grandchildren, parents, and siblings though. Oh yeh, my two nephews too. I don't want to be away from them. It's hard enough having my oldest daughter and her family living in MS.

I heard the door open very early and Beth leaving. She had to leave for the airport at 5:00AM. I jumped out of bed so I could tell her goodby. Although Beth is technically my husbands cousin, she is my cousin too. More important than that, she is my friend and I truly love her!! We've had many adventures together and I look forward to many more!!! Have a safe flight--

Holly and I are up at 6:00 to get ready to leave. I'm sad. She's ready to get home and I want to stay. I understand her needing to get home though. Many things happened in her family while she was gone. Mostly, the death of her mother- in -law. She'll have many emotions to deal with upon arrival back in the states!!

As we were boarding the bus to take us out to the plane, I heard someone yell Debbie. I looked over and it was Sally and Nan getting on their bus. Goodby new friends. I hope to see you again one day. And so the long flights begin. First up, Florence to Frankfurt Germany. Pretty uneventful. We sleep a while on this flight. We have about a 2 1/2 hour layover in Frankfurt. As we're walking from one terminal to another, we notice a huge crowd gathered and music. We look over as we pass by and see a group of 5 dressed alike and they begin to sing a Frank Sinatra song to karaoke!!! We bust out laughing. This airport is absolutely huge. Like a two story shopping mall. Stores everywhere. We get to our gate after going through their customs and wait. A short note regarding the Frankfurt airport. We went through security checkpoints about 5 different times. I've never seen anything like it. Of course, I ALWAYS get stopped because of my camera equipment. This time, I get a cute guard that guides me over to the "extra" security station while Holly waits, AGAIN for me. Another funny happened then. He says he's going to check out my equipment for explosives and as he looks at me, he squints his eyes and says "you're explosive". OMG----that has to be the worst pick up line I've ever heard. Well, other than my grandson saying "if you were a booger, I'd pick you!" He actually said that to a little girl. He's 7 years old!!!!!! And quite the Romeo I might add.

I passed the "explosives" test and was sent on my way.

While waiting for our flight, we encounter several strange things. A european woman was sitting behind us in a chair nursing her child. No cover-up was being used. There was an American guy who I think literally was the actor in the movie Deliverance (not really, but he looked the part) who was straining his neck to watch this taking place. Across from us was a man and his wife who were stretched out on the seats, taking up about 6 seats. I had gone to get us a bottle of water and when I got back, Holly said I missed it. The man decided to pass gas and never flinched. The three little boys sitting behind him were cracking up. I can say I'm glad I missed that. When he stood up to board the plane, I swear to God he had hair on and in his ears that were at LEAST 3 inches long. The hair curled outside his ears. I've never seen anything like it!!! I knew our last day would be eventful but not expecting this.

The flight was long, long, long!!!!!!!! Our seats were awful and we had very little room. I couldn't even set up my computer without it being right in my chest. We tried to sleep but it was very sparse. Can't wait to get off the darn plane. I'm soooo tired of flying.

We arrive in Denver and go through customs. All cleared and bags rechecked. One more security checkpoint. Damn!!! The bottles of Limoncello that we had purchased and had been carefully wrapped and marked, were being confiscated in Denver!!!! I was so mad--I had 3 bottles and Holly had 1. Guess I'll have to have my new Italian friend send me some since you can't buy that kind in the states.

We're off--one more hour and we will arrive back in OK. It's good to be home back sad to be away from my new love, Italy!!!

Thanks to all of you for reading my blog. My neighbor Lori told me it wasn't a blog, it was a novel. I know it's long but wanted everyone to experience the things that we experienced. Plus, I want to relive it over and over. I never want the memories to fade!!!!!!

---debbie malone