Rome

Today, Sunday,  we left mighty early for Rome. We got in from Murano about midnight, then packed up the room. The base lodging has been really comfortable. Curiously, when I'm in a hotel anywhere, I don't sleep easy as I'm unfamiliar and on high alert as a consequence. On base I haven't had that problem once. It could be that seeing a fortified military base where no one gets in or out without checkpoints is my perfect ticket to a sound sleep! God bless our soldiers and airmen.

Anyway, we got about 3 hours sleep then headed to the train station for a 5 hour ride. We met up with Fr. Greg straight away. We feel like we've known him forever despite that only our older boys having met him. (Ok, the truth is, he had frizzante waiting for me when I arrived and that *may* have had something to do with my general sense of ease!) Fr Greg lives in the Benedictine monastery on the Aventi, so first he showed up around there a bit.

Then we headed out to late lunch at a local Roman restaurant (not italian). The food was uh-maze-ing! I think I'll cry when I get home and think of the mozzarella cheese and the eggplant. People just know how to eat here. And eating is so important that to have every meal feel special makes you feel loved and cared for in a truly human way. You can't help but walk away from the table feeling like you're special if someone took so much effort to make a beautiful dish just for you. And even though you're given a menu, you can still talk to the waiter or waitress and they want to know "what would you like to eat?" They want to get it right and because of that attitude, they do.

This was the antipasto we began with!

Our flat is sweet and had a little courtyard you can look out on. We are a stones throw from the monastery. In the morning, we're going to take the metro to a few churches and ruins, and then we'll meet back up wuth Fr Greg for vespers at the monastery and dinner. I can't wait! We miss your happy faces, but are also having so much fun. We tell people about you and it makes us happy and proud to be your parents. I was so nervous to think of leaving you for so long, but now I see its made me glad because I get a chance to miss all that is good and right about you (and a chance to be with my Peter and Abbie when they are so happy to be together).