Birthday (:

So my 17th birthday has pretty much come and gone. It was beautiful. Paola, Romeo and the boys got me a very nice pair of sandals for summer and then tonight we all went out for dinner. It was nothing extravagant or extra-special. But that's what made it special - the fact that we were just family doing a simple, normal birthday celebration. Lorenzo asked if I was going to stay here forever and Paola explained I have a home somewhere else and I have to go back. We had normal birthday talk, went through all the boys birth stories, gave guesses on what we'll all be doing 20 years from now and Paola and Romeo told us what they did when they were 17. When we were talking about 20 years from now Paola and Romeo laughed at the idea of how big the table will have to be in 20 years. Then both talked about how I'm going to bring my kids here and they will be Nonna Paola and Nonno Romeo. I think that's really cool. That my foriegn exchange isn't just affecting my life, but also my childrens. That they're going to grow up with family in Italy: Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. That's really a beautiful thing. You can never have too much family. The restaurant is one of those lovely little places you think of when you think Italy. Stone buildings, low trees, statues and when we walked outside they all sang happy birthday 'tanti auguri' to me. Life is good.

On a fun note my Aunt Chiara is supposed to give birth to her third baby soon. In fact she's way over her due-date. Last night she dialated 5 cm and everyone thought she was going to have the baby today! The baby decided to put things on hold so we're still waiting but it would have been cool if he was born on the 15th of May too.

Xx