[karen z]

Thanks for your kind words Laurel. I assure you, my life has not been very exciting ! As a university professor for decades, I mostly worked non-stop- up until the "end" of my career (still doing some writing and reviewing, etc.). I do not expect to pick up any teaching down the road. My life did pick up tremendously when I had my wonderful daughter when I was 43 (and turned 44 the next month). She will be 23 this August (OMG) and she graduated from college last May. She is working in the legal field and studying for the LSAT and will be applying to law schools this Fall. But (you are right) my life was very exciting when I got to visit Italy (I love it) and decided yesterday to definitely try and go back this Fall. I am half Italian (on my mom's side- much of the time we were "housed" in the city where my maternal grandparents were born and where my brother bought his second home). We had some very interesting short side visits to beautiful cities in our region (Puglia) and did spend our last few days in Milan (related to both finding a great place to help with house renovations as well as visiting the design fair going on that week). But, so far my heart is in the village of my ancestors. This Fall (I think it is a go) we will go back to our village for a major religious festival held every September and our "main" side trip (a three hour train or bus ride) will be to Rome (and many meetings with architects and others on the house). So, I would love to stay healthy (I can live with my arthritis) to continue to see my Isabella get older and to finally (finally) get to travel a bit. Take good care and thanks for writing.