So apparently I should be a little more careful about announcing good moods, because I think it has a way of jinxing them! Yesterday ended up being a bit of a whopper when I got some news that caught me off guard, so I found distraction in the form of gelato. Roberta first cajoled me out of the house and took me to a gelateria on the Zattere, then to an outpost of Ca'Foscari where her boyfriend studies. She told me the story of she and her boyfriend, which was pretty funny, I thought....they'd been dating over 10 years and she kept (semi jokingly) asking him why they didn't just get married already. So he proposed....and it was that point at which she realized she didn't actually want to get married, so she said no and he said "ok, but if/when you decide you DO want to get married, you have to ask." So, they still live together, happily UNmarried, at least for now. Anyways, so then I opted to take a shower and get dressed while the kids had house dinner because I wasn't hungry in the slightest, but Tom hustled me out of the house for yet another gelato and some talking time after dinner but before the house gondola ride. The gondola ride was amazing. It included the 20 of us who live here, Jaimie's parents, Laura and Roberta (the Italian ladies who "run" the house), Massimo (our handyman) and his daughter, and Lucianna and Marissa (two former housekeepers here). The weather was cool but not freezing and everyone dressed up so nicely and we walked around the corner from the house to pile in to 6 gondolas (we'd normally take them from the dock, but the tide was out and so the water was too low). I rode with Kayla, Laura, Elizabeth, Chris, and Eugene and they were hilarious...they took a ton of pictures and it was so cool to be gliding along the Grand Canal and side canals near St. Mark's Square at night. Towards the end, it wasn't so pretty as my stomach started really, really hurting as we were approaching Salute (and thus maybe 10 minutes away from Casa Artom). As soon as we got off the gondola, I took Elizabeth's key and RAN back to the house, ducked away from Tom & Megan, who had gotten back first and were trying to scare people who came in the house, and barely made it up to my bathroom in time. Pleasant, I know. But hey, at least I didn't ruin anyone's gondola ride by losing it BEFORE we got back, right? Apparently my body was just on overload from the stress and the sugar. I haven't really eaten much since then, but that's ok, better safe than sorry, I say. Anyways, everyone here has been so, so nice to me (more than I deserve, I keep telling them, but they won't listen). I've gotten more hugs and cuddles and pep talks than I ever thought possible! And today, Caroline came back from the weekly art visit toting a bunch of pink gerber daisies for me...hands down one of my favorite flowers ever (and what the picture is of at the beginning of the post). But that's kind of the whole point of this little ramble...yeah, life sucks sometimes, but I think I was taking my friends, my real family, and my family here in Venice for granted maybe a little bit and so this helped me remember how great they are and how lucky I am to have them! Plus, they won't let me dwell...there's way too much to do... singles dinner tonight, hopefully shopping tomorrow (although there's rumor of a train strike), planning a trip to Vienna and my 2nd 10 day break, seeing Allie finally (!!), the wine festival in Treviso, finishing up law school applications, hunting down a job for when I get back, etc...and besides, I'm in VENICE for goodness sake, currently holding a job that half the people my age would kill for. There's no way I'm going to not take advantage of the time I have left here...and even if I try, there are nineteen other people in this house who aren't going to let that happen. Bless them.
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