I was sitting in the dentist office waiting room when my Mom called from work. I figured I should answer because it must be important if she is calling me from work! (You must first understand that my Mom has a very high stress job with Whirlpool as a master scheduler, she tells the whole plant when it runs and when it doesn’t.) I answered and was met by a very peppy happy voice from my Mother on the other end. “Guess what?,” she said. “Someone from corporate just called and asked if I would be willing to go to Italy for two weeks!,” she said as she could barely hold back her excitement. I was so happy for her and asked if she would be willing to put me in her suitcase, instead of all the clothes and toiletries she would need. She laughed.
She had a lot of work to do, train someone to perform her position while she was gone, and prepare audit paperwork for even after her return. She knew it would be a stressful step away for two weeks, but who wouldn’t be willing to do that for a chance to work first hand on a project in ITALY?! I was excited for her and this first major step of heading out of the country for a work-related experience. I knew even though I wasn’t able to join her I needed to make sure my Mom came back with great pictures. She had to be my ‘eye’ to see Italy. I dug out my old Sony Cybershot- my first and most expensive camera- and prepared it for a trip across the world. I met up with my Mom just days before she left and taught her how to use the Sony.
Upon her return she called me from the Atlanta airport and the first thing she said was, “It is so good to hear your voice. I have missed talking to you!” I guess I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be to have zero communication for that ‘short’ amount of time. I missed her, and it equally was good to hear her voice. She rambled on quickly through her excitement to catch me up to speed on her two weeks. She told me how everyone closed shop at 7 p.m. and how dinner wasn’t until 8:30 p.m. and lasted anywhere from 2-4 hours. She shared through these pictures how narrow the streets were, how beautiful the countryside was, and how her meeting room overlooked the Swiss Alps.
Here are some of the amazing pictures she was able to capture in her very little sight-seeing time in Milan and Portifino.
I got a little post-cardish and really played with the colors…
All images were taken by my Mother, Terri Vargas. She owns the copyright to these images.
..ITALY..
love, echo
