growth at a cost

Wonderful thing for Tuesday, 24 February:

Increased sense of personal accomplishment.  Unfortunately, I arrived at this achievement at the expense of Blaine's health.  He hasn't been feeling well lately; first we thought it was the flu, but it wasn't bad enough to actually be the flu.  Then it turned into more of a cold, but felt worse than the almost-flu.

After a fairly full day, he just wasn't up to going to Pisa for the afternoon to visit GANS, and for the evening to attend their Institute - especially considering today's schedule, which was to travel to Reggio nell-Emilia, Modena and Bologna to inspect six missionary apartments, necessitating leaving Prato at 7:00 a.m.

Therefore, it fell upon me to make the hour-or-so drive to Pisa and back by myself.  Have I mentioned that if one of us goes anywhere alone, we always feel kind of vulnerable?  Add to that the challenge of driving the Italian way, which means basically "a way with which I am not yet completely comfortable."  Add to that driving in the evening and at night.  in the rain.

I did it!! Even though the one GANS we were able to make an appointment with missed her train.  I ended up sitting in on the free English class that the missionaries do, which was super.

I am so proud of me.  Folks were curious about where Anziano Hyde was; they didn't know that senior missionaries, according to our understanding from the MTC, can be separated as long as they're back together before the end of the day. Arrived home ready to go straight to bed.

Fun thing:

Missionary correlation meeting.  Elton Sejko, our newly returned missionary, is now the ward mission leader.  Missionary correlation meeting was held at the family pizzeria, Il Cipollotto, where his gracious and lovely mother, Edlira, and her husband treated us to lunch.  How cool is that.

There's an appetizer, a Tuscan specialty, that is basically liver pate' on bread.  Hers was the best I've tasted.