For lack of anything substantial to post on Halloween, I decided to post a rarely-been-seen image of me visiting the Italian Air Base in which my Dad was the Commander, Ghedi A.B. This photo was taken while I visited Mom & Dad and had the ABSOLUTE TIME OF MY LIFE touring around Italy, the Vatican, and throughout Europe - an experience as effervescent in my brain as trick-or-treating back in the day.

I was all excited to score myself a tasty-looking lemon poppyseed muffin at the staff coffee hour today, only to find out I actually had my hands on a blueberry muffin instead. But alas, that muffin was just as delicious, free, and Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Bitmoji-worthy, nonetheless.

This is what tennis looks like at 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Twenty minutes later, it looks mostly the same but with a big sweaty forehead and no Creighton jacket. An hour or so after that? Envision a 7-6 victory by my teammate and me over the other 2 IT guys working in my office. And after all was said and done, I had 3 words to describe this match: Best. Game. EVER. (Oh wait, 4 more: Never. Saw. That. Coming.)

Let's just say I've always had a strong sense of intuition, as evidenced by my suspicious stare at this poor, unsuspecting Santa Claus who never stood a chance.

Flashing back to 1989, this precious photo displays Grandma, me, and Mom sporting "VIP" (Very Italian Person) t-shirts that we purchased at a local shop in Bradford, Pennsylvania, during the Festa Italiana. Bittersweet in so many ways, this photo captures a rare moment in time where Mom and I were able to visit Grandma before she passed to celebrate a small piece of our heritage - Grandma actually has German and French roots and I am 50% British.  But at that moment in time we were "Very Italian Persons" and nobody was going to argue with that.

Technically, this weekend was our own personal Homecoming with the youngest peep returning home for a visit after being away to college for a solid month and a half, the longest time away ever.  And although he only spent about 48 hours back at home, we enjoyed every single minute of it. From the big hug/smile he greeted me with Friday night to the "Pump You Up" Schwarzenegger quips while weightlifting in the home gym, I was reminded of why I have missed that guy so much.  Even this photobomb on the road back to campus made me melt just a little bit more. And now, on a Sunday night, the nest is all empty once again.  Who knew this whole new-life-chapter thing was going to be so rollercoaster-ish?