DAY 67: Pillow Talk

You know that feeling in the morning when you open one eye… and the other slowly follows for a split second before both squint shut as anticipation rushes from your toes up to your brain, and back down again? The angst that feels like cinder blocks are stacked on your chest? When you know that today is the day that something wonderful has to come to an end? When you are pushed out of your comfort zone, understand good things lie before you, but don’t want to walk away from “right now?” There’s a place “under the covers” that lends a reassurance, and it’s as comforting now as it was 20 years ago when it protected me from the Boogie Monster. As long as you are tucked under those 900 count Egyptian cotton sheets, a goose down sleeping bag or a mosquito net, everything’s going to be ok. Today felt like that. I didn’t want to get outa’ bed. Not because it was exceptionally comfortable, but because I had to leave a sense of familiarity and rely on myself again…the ebb tide is on its way back out.  You know you have good friends when you don’t even have to think around them- everything happens naturally and easily. Until you say good-bye to them in a soup can filled with horrendous body odor in Pisa, Italy.

We slowly and sadly fed the glutinous nylon wolf pack, checked out of the hostel and took the train from Manarola to La Spezia where we had to wait 2 hours for the next train to Pisa… we set up camp in McDonalds snacking on dried fruit and oranges. The clock was ticking and the Trio’s Italian Safari was on it’s last legs as we boarded the train for the last time together… the depression was broken when Rabbit ordered a bottle of H2O from the passing Trans-Fat cart and when “Hugo” leaned across me to hand it off, I don’t know what kept me from passing out and/or vomiting. His underarm stench smelled like a cat pissed on a bloated sea lion carcass that had been rotting inside an abandoned aquarium for weeks… Ann was convinced we would wake up with one eye crossed. He made gypsies smell like a green house in the Royal Gardens… although he just missed the time trials for “Hottest Italian Stallion,” he took home the glimmering “Stankiest Pits in Italy” trophy.

Campbell’s Clam Chowder was slowly approaching Pisa and those cinder blocks started to get heavy… A man helped me talk Luigi off the ledge… he gave me a hand getting him down and yelped “Mama Mia!” which resonated in unison with the air that passed through the other end. I put on a happy face, squeezed my two darling girlfriends tight and bid them good luck in Rome and sang my most convincing “until next time”…  Boys II Men weren’t kidding: It’s SO hard to say good-bye! I stepped onto the platform, swallowed what felt like a sharp tortilla chip that went down the wrong way, and waved my lovelies away. Back to the original cast members- Trixie, Luigi and I were at it again, specifically to Florence where I had another 2 hours to kill. Team Blond Voyage grabbed a veggie pizza at a nearby resto… I really wasn’t hungry, but Luigi was KILLING my back and I had to order food if I wanted to whip my computer out at a table for a few. Once in Perugia, I still had to take a bus to Ellora (which took a good 45 minutes to remember and locate the correct stop) and catch a different bus to Corciano (which I missed by 3 minutes)… so the lone soldiers sat in the dark, in silence for another hour to catch the last bus of the evening to Corciano, where I still had a nice little hill to conquer via my hooves if I wanted to sleep in my bed. Beginning at 10 a.m. I finally arrived in room #8 at the villa at 10 p.m., releasing the only relieving breath I could find all day. It wasn’t “home” but it was the next best thing, and I couldn’t wait to get under the covers.  Ciao…