Yesterday was our anniversary – the one we celebrate at any rate. It turned out to be surprisingly nice. It was only the 3rd one we’ve actually been in the same place on – and neither of us remembers last year. (Those first 3 months after Sammi was born are kind of hazy.)
Jack is on this 2 weeklong exercise, so he had to work the weekend. Sammi misses him since she only gets to see him for about 5 minutes in the morning before he leaves, but at that time she is only jonesing for milk and is in no mood for play! Since it was our anniversary, and since Sammi missed Daddy she and I took the train into work to see Jack in the afternoon. (He had the car.) Well, when we got there Jack came walking up with a dozen (really 13- it’s lucky here) long-stem red roses and a bottle of champagne. We sat under the shade trees of the gas station and had a little picnic of champagne and Sammi’s snacks that I brought along. How romantic is that? Sitting at a gas station, eating bread sticks, drinking some bubbly in Italy? Well, it was actually! It was sweet of him to take a break to see us.
Also, earlier that day the battle rhythm had changed so his boss was going to let him come home early so we could go out to eat. I called our babysitter and told her to come over at 7. Jack got home at 7 (and that was early, yes.) and we decided we better go someplace we could walk to since earlier that day there was some soccer game that Naples won. It was the first time in 6 years that they won, so people were going nuts. (Wait a minute – I just checked this out. They played Genoa and the score was 0 – 0. WTF? They were going crazy over a scoreless game and calling it a victory? Figures.)
We decided to walk down to the Piazza and have a beer, then walk to a nearby restaurant, if it was open since many are only open for brunch on Sundays. Well, as we walked down we noticed that everyone was hanging tablecloths out on their balconies. We decided it was some hold-over from the war. The Italians probably hung a tablecloth out as a sign of victory, because tablecloths are inoffensive to everyone, right? That way, no matter which side won they could hang their tablecloth out and everyone would be happy. (Because the War, the Italians, which side are they on today? – anyone?)
We got to the Piazza and Jack ordered our beers. They tried to trick us and give us small beers when we ordered large ones – but I wouldn’t let them. Even knowing a tiny bit of Italian is helpful. Everyone was standing around and there was an “alter” set up in the middle. Eventually, a procession came by and we got to “enjoy” a little bit of Mass. A Mass to celebrate the “victory.” They do this thing here where they get speakers and everyone meets at one church, then they do a procession from church to church, piazza to piazza and have an outdoor mass along the way. I notice it seems to be mostly women in the procession – the guys were all hanging out at the piazza because what better way to enjoy your 5 minutes of Mass than with a beeroni? : )
We then walked to the restaurant that Jack wanted to try, but of course, it was closed. So, we decided to try the one I mentioned. It was in the opposite direction, up hill, but luckily our walk was not for naught as it was open! We had wine, appetizers, and then the best strip-steak we’ve had since we’ve been over here (that we didn’t make) and for dessert we had the BEST torta caprese we’ve had since we’ve been here, too! We had to have dessert, unlike on my birthday. They also gave us a discount. We will definitely have to go back there.
We walked back home to relieve the babysitter just before 11. It was a great anniversary, especially since we were together!
No comments:
Post a Comment