Hello! After ten wonderful days in Italy followed by a couple bonus days in France, we are finally back at home. It was a fabulous trip, with bits of "what the hell were we thinking, bringing three little boys to Tuscany?" and "what do you mean you can't get us home for days?" mixed in. It all brought a tremendous sense of adventure and even accomplishment. We did, in fact, all survive. Now that I'm home, I am able to remember the good and laugh at the crazy.
I have about six loads of laundry to wash, a full email inbox at work, and an empty refrigerator. Oh, and very tired little boys. But I still plan to spend some quality time with my pictures so that I can share some with you here very soon. It's good to be home.
, by Laura Hillenbrand, is definitely one of these. The book is the astonishing true story of Louie Zamperini. It tells the story of his life, starting at his home in Torrance, California, where he was a deviant kid causing all sorts of trouble until he began running. He became an Olympic runner, running in the 1936 Olympics. He was training for the 1940 Olympics when he joined the war, becoming a bombardier. His plane was shot down over the Pacific, and only he and two other crewmen survived the crash. They floated adrift for 47 days, surviving an ordeal that none of us can even imagine, only to be picked up by the Japanese when they eventually did reach land. He was taken to a POW camp, where he spent the rest of the war enduring torture, disease, and near starvation. The story takes us all the way through his return from Japan, and it makes me happy to know that this 93-year-old man is still alive. 
. Turn it on and turn it up.
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