Best day so far!! Jenna, Orrie, and Cooper arrived from Ann Arbor (without the dog!). Their plane flew a Southern route to avoid ash, so Jenna and the boys had a TIGHT connection in Paris. They made the Bologna plane by running probably a mile through Charles de Gaulle and then leveraging Jenna's French to talk their way onto the flight.I don't know when I've been a happy to see someone as I was to see Jenna walking down the corridor from baggage claim with both boys at her side.
As soon as we got to the apartment, we went out for some amazing pizza, which we brought back home. It was so good, we went out and bought Orrie even more. Then, while Jenna slept, the boys and I got gelato, toured some churches, and got our train tickets to Rome.
Both boys lit candles and said prayers for their grandfathers. Having been alone here, I've spent an enormous amount of time thinking about my father's wanderings through Europe when he was in the service. He would sometimes talk about the food in Italy. Having the boys take just a moment
to reflect on him and on Jenna's father was special, particularly given the setting, a fabulous six hundred year old church.After resting a cleaning up a bit, I took the boys and Jenna on a long rainy walk to a jazz dinner club. The club has a cavern like room with great acoustics. We had an incredible cheese and jam appetizer. The pear jam was really more of a sauce -- fantastico as they say here. (My rule is "speak Spanish, add an "o", and say it with gusto.) And the strawberry tasted just like grandma's.
The boys LOVED their pasta. Jenna and I had seafood pasta dishes. (Note to self -- start making homemade pasta again.) I'm still trying to figure out how they make these little diced pieces of fish that they toss in their pasta. It's somehow firm like little pieces of meat.
The whole scene was almost too good to be true. Family, music, laughter, great food, wonderful wine, and no more work. All the little things fell into place too. The jazz trio's drummer was full of life and made faces at the boys, and our waiter was amazing -- asking Orrie to feel his muscle.
After two weeks without my family, I could do little but stare at them and smile. Yeah, it's great that they're among the most beautiful people I've ever seen (especially Jenna - wow!) but it's better that they're such a happy, healthy bunch. And how cool were the boys? Hanging at a jazz club.
Then home -- but first some gelato. You have to keep your priorities. Rome next. Can't wait.
