Movie Moments

I was going to go silent this week but so much interesting stuff has happened I decided to jot it down so I don’t forget. Local time in Turin, Italy is 11:43 pm and I have not slept since Tuesday night. Here’s a snapshot of the journey so far.

Left D.C. on Wednesday afternoon and something surreal happened. Suddenly night crept up on me and in a flash it was morning. Stewardess tried to feed me breakfast at 1:30 am EST. Landing in Rome provided an amazing view of beautiful villas with vineyards. Ate real Italian gelato at something like 3:30 am EST. Became delirious for a moment there. Flew over to Turin and decided it’s best to stay up. After checking into the hotel I jumped into my running gear and headed for a nearby river walk and park. Also learned that you should not just run through a strange city without first checking things out. A car jumped out of a hidden entrance and I was literally 6 inches away from becoming an Italian sausage. After that I decided to walk to the park. The park was amazing and I felt blessed to be running there. Honestly, it was unbelievable – something straight out of a movie. I was so lost in the moment I ran for something like 1 hour on the pavement which I have never done before. On the return trip I accidently stumbled across an architecture school in an old castle (I went to architecture school myself so this was a unique blessing). Met some students and told them to keep in touch. Then I ended up in some horticulture park where a construction worker befriended me. His name was Nemo I believe – like the fish. On the way back I lost my bearings and ended up walking around for 2 hours before I returned to the hotel. I failed to remember the name of my hotel so no one could help me find it. I started to feel anxious (it’s crazy you can still get lost like that at my age) and prayed to St. Anthony to help me out. He did and I finally found the hotel. Next, I met up with my travelling partners, enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner, and headed for the Shrine of John the Baptist to see the shroud of Turin. It was am amazing experience. Hard to describe in words. Once again something straight out of a movie. On the way back our taxi driver flipped out because we did not remember the street address to our hotel and he could not read the map we were showing him (he needed reading glasses). In the end John the Baptist must have interceded on our behalf because we made it back safely.

That’s about it and tonight’s lesson is a quick one (I have to go to sleep even though its 6:04 am EST). Trust the journey. It will take you places you could never have imagined. And when you get there you will be blessed with “movie moments" you will never forget. Now I just need to bring my family back here so we can do all of this together. I'm enjoying the journey but without them here with me a piece of my heart is missing.

Here’s the song that motivated me to keep pushing on today, even after I became lost.