My first trip out of the country was to Italy. I was in 8th grade. I went with my mother who was four or five months pregnant with my brother James at the time. We joined onto a Catholic pilgrimage tour. A few notable items from this trip.
1) the ever popular subject - toilets. There are a lot of squat toilets in Italy. Again...my mother was 4-5 months pregnant....
2) One day, I was in the hotel room with my mother. It was quite a tall building, with another just across from it. We looked out the window to see a shirtless man waving at us from his window directly across from us. ...then he started jumping...he wasn't only shirtless...
3) One of our trips was to St. Peter's Square to see the pope (John Paul II) give mass. My mother, never one to be satisfied with her position, somehow managed to get herself a seat close to the front. Not for me though, I was left with the old ladies. During the service, the square is broken up into blocks. My mother was in the middle of a block close to the stage. We were at the front of a block in the back. The space in between blocks was adequate enough that the pope-mobile could weave through. Guess who got to shake hands with the pope? Guess who didn't? :) I distinctly remember how soft and squishy his hands were. Not very large in diameter, but thick and squishy.
