No More Sleeping on the Floor!

Last night was my last night sleeping atop a pile of my clothing. Kelsey was gone, but Becca II had returned with her sister. Due to their enviable figures they shared the tiny twin bed. Becca I slept in my bed while I was on the floor. We still had quite the crowded room. On Mondays I don't have class until noon so Becca and I attempted the Vatican dome climb again.I once again sat in St. Peter's Square. This morning was particularly cold and wet, sitting was a bit of a gamble, one that I took due to the amount of time I expected to wait. I had brought my sole source of reading material, and began to chuckle when I realized the irony/ blasphemy of reading a science magazine in the square of the capital of my religion. I was beginning to turn into a Popsicle, so I put away my magazine and wandered the square. I had enough time to take pictures for a group of young Hispanic girls, and to watch a cute German baby play with her grandparents. Then Becca was walking towards me, pleased with her experience. We were quite hungry at this point so we stopped by pizza boom on our way back to the apartment. At this time I had fifteen minutes to get back to class; i.e not enough time. I made the executive decision to skip a day rather than ravenously eat and run while trying to squeeze in a goodbye with Becca. I knowingly skipped a meeting with my art gallery management group, but this way I would be able to show Becca to her train to the airport. This was the better choice for a clear conscious. I spent the time just hanging out with Becca as she packed up her things (more of a challenge than it sounds) We decided on McDonalds for supper, and stopped by the grocery store to shop for cookies on the way back. Becca wanted them for the plane ride home, and I didn't need an excuse to buy myself cookies. We stopped by the apartment to grab her many bags and headed down the road for the train station. We said our goodbyes as the train pulled up and went our separate ways. As much as I was looking forward to having space in my room again, not to mention my bed back, I found myself missing Becca I's familiar presence. She was a brief piece of home and things were quieter without her. I returned to my room and cleaned up my makeshift bed, and logged onto my computer to find my mother online. We typed back and forth on msn without webcam use. We talked a bout nothing in particular including how my cat of seven years had passed. this was sad news, but not terribly surprising. After talk of Fuzzy's death mom admitted that wasn't the only bad news she had for me. my cousin's husband, Marty, had passed suddenly, unexpectedly, and too soon for his young years. We chatted for awhile longer, and I was left to sort through a long distance family loss. There was a significant age gap between Marty and I and we weren't terribly close, but he was still family. I had never dealt with a death on my own and I feared that lack of the grieving process and acknowledgment would leave me feeling as though it had never happened. Without the services it was much harder for the reality that I would never see Marty again, that Tammy was now a widow before the age of forty, to sink in. I went to bed confused and exhausted from the long weekend and somber, heavy news.