Memories

Precious memories, unseen angels,

Sent from somewhere to my soul;

How they linger, ever near me,

And the sacred past unfold.

Chorus

Precious memories, how they linger,

How they ever flood my soul;

In the stillness of the midnight,

Precious, sacred scenes unfold.

A song from my childhood...Sunday school, Akron, Ohio...I can still hear the music in my head, but why would this come to my memory after 50 years? Sometimes I can't remember anything I did yesterday, and so I always say we should live each moment to the fullest. It makes me feel less guilty about forgetting things and less fearful of Alzheimer's disease. I still wonder how memories affect the present moment? Thank goodness for our senses and mine still work, with a little help from progressive lenses and maybe soon a hearing aid. I'm not convinced that I want to know what is exactly being said, because usually what I think I heard is so much funnier!

Before arriving in Italy, we spent months planning and anticipating...who's going?... where are we going and where will we stay?...villa? convent? (we did both!) and a few other minor details. We were sure that we could handle shopping! Our discussions were held while eating Italian food, drinking vino (plus one diet Coke), and laughing like friends do when planning a month's adventure!

Serious faces were required when discussing passports, customs, security, airline tickets, insurance costs, museum entrance fees, car rentals, telephones, Euros, hotels, Casa di Julie and a general reminder by our travel agent, Mary Anne Desmond, to try and stay out of trouble! (Was that a reference to a previous trip to Rome and being detained by the Vatican police for impersonating nuns?!?)

Once we had the key to Casa di Julie, a rustic 17th century home in the small mountain village of Vitiana, it was impossible to scrub the smiles off of our faces! The "Funsome Fivesome" were ready to explore Italy, not for the first time in our lives, but in a new style of independence.

Plans were finalized.
Leaving Phoenix, AZ on June 14, 2010 for Italy and returning home on July 13, 2010.