Happy 4th of July

I woke up yesterday at 7:00 in the morning, which was probably the earliest I've been up all summer, or at least since I got here. I was wet and sticky with sweat and the air was so thinck with heat, for a terrible moment I thought I was suffocating. After changing into some short and a tanktop, and packing my books in a satchel bag, I escapted through the bathroom window by climbing on a wobbly cabinite in the corner, because the only door to the partially-underground, three-room (not including the bathroom) house that we rented for the first day in Sardegna, was locked. Crawling out of the three-foot high window onto the tile-covered, shaded area outside, I got scratched by some allarmingly goathead-like stickers that had gathered in piles outside the window. But it was worth it. The fresh breeze outside was like fresh water on my face, and I enjoyed reading, praying, and listening to the well-appreciated, last few songs on my (Melanie's) i-pod before the battery died, at last (I met a few friends on the GS trip who have the same i-pod, so I was thinking I might be able to ask them to use their charger before I leave, so that I will be able to listen to music on the plane!). It was sitting out there in the morning that I realized it is was the 4th of July, a fact which remained in the back of my head for the entire day.

Sara, the only other one to be up at that time, found me outside later and took me out for breakfast in a caffe ("bar"), where I had a glass of sour but greatly-appreciated orange juice and an over-sweet, cream-filled doughnut-like pastry, which Sara insisted was better for breakfast than the fruit tart I wanted- which she said was for desert (I would beg to differ; I'd say that they should be categorized the other way around!).

Swimming in the sea is bliss. It is so clear, so cool, so fresh and bright and fun, with the gently-lapping, constantly moving waves boucing your body and your hair up and down. It is really, truly beautiful. I had a wonderful time exploring on the rocks the first day we got here, because I felt like a little kid in a storybook, climbing up slippery stones on a little island a little distance from the shore of a clear-blue sea, investigating strange tall plants with odd-textured spheres at the top, with screeching white birds like seagulls hovering above- to find three brown gray eggs nestled at the base of the plants! It was really wonderful!

Sara thought it would be a great thing for me to get some sun on my white skin, so she told me to stop worrying as she applied what was, in my oppinion, a terribly thin layer of sunscreen lotion on my exposed back and shoulders, and sent me off to play on the beach urging me not to where the white t-shirt (maglietta) I had worn all day the day before. It's not that I blame her or anything- most people don't have skin as delicate as mine- my shoulders and upper back are now painfully burnt and I both Sara and I have now come to the definite agreement that, though a tan would be prefferable, it really is probably a better idea for me to wear a t-shirt when I am outside! ;)

Stefano's brother and his family of a wonderfully optimistic, kind, and smiling wife, and six children, five of which are boys, have a house here which is currently under construction. Ever since their arrival in Sardegna (the afternoon of the same day we arrived, after, by the way, an extremely wonderful ferry ride that I enjoyed completely), it has been a constant kid-swap of cousins; we have had a different cousin with us for lunch or dinner every day so far! Last night it was my turn to swap (on a kind request from Paula, the wife), so I helped sweep the house-in progress and helped to carry up the dinner that she and Kika had made at the already functioning house down the street, which they are renting until the new house is finnished. We then had a wonderful dinner in the twighlight after a golden pink sunset. The table on the patio where we sat overlooked the bay where the waves glistened in the lights of the surrounding houses, and a huge, rocky mountain island just a few miles off the shore loomed out of the stary sky. It was simply breathtaking. After dinner and some classically Southern Italy cookies (which I have tried and loved before when my Nonna and Papa have given them to us for desert!), I accepted a small portion of fizzy white wine, with which I made a silent toast to America and my family and friends at home, celebrating my first 4th of July away from home. After thanking the family and workers present by singing the only song I know in Italian as well as another well-practiced one I know in English, two of the boy cousins, Federica, Chiara, and I walked down the street to where live musicias and dancers were filling the narrow streets wtih music, as the venders with slowly rotating pigs on spits over burning coals filled the air with the smells that one might encounter at the State Fair. This week is the festival of St. Paul, whom this port city is named after, so there was a celebration after all, and I revelled in the beauty of the forever-stretching stands of richly cultural and excitingly bright merchendise of the bazar.

This went on to say some rather lovely things, in my oppinion, about those I love, how much I miss them, and how thankful I am not only to have each one in my life, but also to be assured that there is a reason that we are appart. It all got deleted somehow, with a click of a few buttons, and that is quite heartbreaking to me right now, to be honest.

Please imagine, if you will, that there is a letter in the stars tonight, whispering my love to you as you sleep. It is a letter filled with bright, clear water, holding you in arms of safety, grace, and assurance of someone bigger than ourselves, holding everything together for good greater than we can work out on our own. It is filled with poetry and every beautiful word and metaphor. It is filled with the very beating of the human heart, filled with longing and love and yearning for what is good, especially in those it has already found to be so full of the happiness they desire.

Thank you for being you.
You have made a difference in my life and I love you.

* Happy 4th of July * (I hope you had a good one too!)