a month or more....

it's been a long time, kids. i apologize for the long, outta-nowhere absence. 'twas not a pre-thought thing, things just started happening and then they didn't stop happening and now i'm catching you up. or if not offering all kinds of details, at least bringing you in on today's page.

so i'm leaving on saturday for two weeks' holiday in italy. i'm going to visit my cousins in rome and the little seaside village in sicily my grandmother emigrated from when she was ten. i'm going to go to the town my grandfather's family came from, montevago, where we may still have some surviving cousins (the rome cousins suggested we just walk to the tavern in the town's center and ask for the azzaras). i'm traveling with my parents, my grandmother, my aunt jo, my aunt annamaria, my uncle peter, and my cousins laura, brian, and kelly. i am going to dip my toes in the mediterranean, and dance in the ruins at pompei, and shop in milan.

when i get back, in early may, i will have two surgeries to implant an electrical stimulation device into my torso, attached to my spinal cord. once the device is in and final, i will be bionic. seriously. i will set off metal detectors and everything! and the best best part is that i will be pain-free! i will have a little remote control that i will use to control the electrical impulses which will control the nerves in my arm. and i will have to charge my battery once a week. no shit.

it's a time of large changes in life.