As I was unpacking today, I came across my box of Ketodol.  Ahhh, that brings up a great memory.  It was my third day in Italy, it was drizzling rain, and I was in pain.  My neck and shoulder were locked up and I could barely turn my head.  I went out for a pizza at the Piazza Navona (one of my favorite places) and walked around for a few hours.  On my way back to the hotel I popped into a pharmacy.  They tried to give me something like ibuprofen and I just shook my head no.  I had already tried that.  I asked for the next step up.  They told me to take it with food.  I said I had just eaten some gelato and did that count.

1. I love gelato.
2. This pistachio gelato was so homemade that sometimes, you bit into a little bit of shell.

No, gelato did not count.

So I went back to the hotel, which I was in alone now that my travel companion had abandoned me and flown home (the second one to do that), and took two.  I spent the afternoon drifting deeply into sleep and feeling the healing.  In the night, the drizzle turned into a storm and woke me as it fiercely blew open the shutters (the hotel had shutters, it was Rome) and the long, sheer curtains flew freely and wild.  It was a dramatic emphasis to what was occurring for me.

I awoke the next morning refreshed, renewed and without pain.  It was a new day, a new outlook on Rome and a new me.  I embraced that I was alone and I gave up my idea of needing to flee to Vienna to be with a friend because I had felt like I had somehow failed because I was now alone.

I thought that I had missed a day in this beautiful city by being in bed but I felt like I had gained something even more….and I couldn’t wait to explore!