How could I have known that I should have taken more pictures? You just don't realize that sort of thing when you are barely 20 years old. You also don't realize that it's possible to go to Italy for 8 weeks and simultaneously gain 10 pounds. Yet, it happens. You also don't think you will get over the broken heart that prompted you to book the trip in the first place because, "I just have to get out of here. Now!" Yet, you can be on to a new romance even before the time rolls around to board the plane. It happens. You can end up marrying that new romance which turns out to be the grandest romance imaginable and three children, twenty years of marriage and much life experience later, find yourself writing about the event on a cool day in Southern California. It happens.
At 20 years old, should I have expected the little 80 year old Italian man making pleasant conversation in the piazza to offer to take both my female college friend and I out for ice cream and have us back in time for school in the morning? Perhaps. The Roman Empire... Christopher Columbus… Italian men are nothing if not ambitious. For the record, my friend and I declined his offer, politely thanked him for the conversation, quickly got up and left, and went to purchase our own gelato, thank you very much.
It was a beautiful country, with gorgeous art, interesting people, delectable foods, scenery that I will never forget (well, not really… I should have taken more pictures). Yet, I found myself (all of me, including the additional 10 pounds) longing for the comforts of home. To have a hot, greasy piece of Chicago deep dish pizza (Italians don't know how to make a good pizza). To hug my new love and not have to let go. To hear the English language being spoken all around me. The Beautiful USA was my home. I loved it then, and I still do. My Grandma used to say, "It's nice to go away sometimes. But it's also nice to come back home. I always hug my house when I come back home from somewhere." My Grandma was a wise woman. I thank God for the opportunity to be able to travel and see some exquisite places in our world. I also thank God for the Beautiful USA that I have the opportunity to call "home."
This essay is in participation of the #steemusawrite Thursday Writing Challenge. You can link to and read about it HERE
