28 June, 2012

{this memory} 57

This is the story behind last Monday's {this moment}.

It's a little hard to say where we are in this image - somewhere over the North Atlantic at 37,000 feet. I'm not sure of the time either, but my younger daughter is still awake. These flights usually leave around 6:00 pm or so, so it's probably after dinner in mid-July of 1989.

We are on Alitalia and on our way for a first trip to Italy. My wife and older daughter are there too, as are another faculty couple and the couple of dozen college students we are all chaperoning.

It was a great trip - a week in a small hotel in Popoli followed by a week staying with a family in Tocco da Casauria and then a week in Rome. Everyday was filled with food, family, friends, fun, and day trips. The memories will last forever.

Except for my six-year-old daughter - she claims to remember none of it. My wife and I do since we often carried her around in the July/August Mediterranean sun. Even that, however, is a pleasant memory.

So many wonderful memories - I am a fortunate man.
TGB