In the Begining.....

Five years ago my Grandmother I had made plans to visit Italy. Our goal was to travel to "The Boot" in October 2001. Neither one of us had ever been to Italy. If I had to write an international resume at the time I could only include Canada on the list. (Can I really classify Canada as "international travel"?). One night I found myself on Yahoo checking out the Italian chat rooms. It was fun to listen to the rhythmic sounds of this beautiful language. I asked if anyone spoke English. To my surprise, I got several responses.....one of them from the man who would become my husband. I know this sounds like a sleazy way to meet a guy, but this is exactly how I met the man of my dreams. Keep in mind that I had NEVER planed on meeting the Italian in person. Who knows what kind of derelicts are out there in cyber space. We kept in touch on the net and in emails. As time went on we became pen pals and eventually found ourselves spending hours on the phone together (yes, it was VERY expensive).

Just one month before our dream trip the unthinkable happened.....(The terrosit attacks on New York and Washington, September 11th)! Naturally, I was a little worried about traveling overseas. However, before we could think about canceling our flight my Grandfather passed away unexpectedly. We would not be traveling to Italy that year.

By the time my Grandma and I finally made it to Italy, the Italian had already come to America to meet me and my family......twice! It took me a while to get up the nerve to meet him face to face. I finally convinced myself that there were plenty of Italian girls to murder if he was a serial killer. Why spend all that money just to come to Indiana to kill little old me? I didn't know it at the time, but I was in love with him before I ever met him person. I was even more in love after his first trip to Indy (yea I know, it sounds too cheesy....but it is the truth).

I fell in love with Italy also. I will never forget my first trip to that beautiful country with my Grandma. We had so much fun and the Italian was incredible. He drove five hours to Rome just to meet us at the airport and get us to our hotel. He showed us all around Rome that first day and then departed at 3am so he could be at work in the morning! Not too many guys would do this sort of thing. At least not any of the guys I had ever met!

(To make a long story just a little longer)......We met in the summer of 2001 and after flying across the pond a million times the Italian and I decided it was time to make a change. We got engaged in the spring of 2004 and I spent the summer preparing for the "big move". It was a hard decision. I knew I wanted to share my life with this wonderful man, but I hated the thought living so far from my family. In the end, I knew I had to go. With tears in my eyes and love in my heart I said good bye to my family and left for Italy.

I loved my job working on an ambulance in the city of Indianapolis, but at times it could be trying. Many times I said, as I washed puked off of my shoes or blood out my shirt, "In my next life I am NOT going to do this." I had no idea that my next life would be in Italy.

So at the age of 30 I rebooted my life and started again......