Last Post!

Let me conclude the final post to this blog with an update on Isabella's medical status. Her MRI at the end of June (six months since the last) showed that all continues to be stable. GREAT news and so she will continue to be on 6 monthly check ups. Fingers crossed this pediatric brain tumor remains dormant and becomes a thing of the past. As 3.5 years since treatment moves towards 5 years and beyond, the check ups will hopefully become less frequent.

I have decided that this shall be the final post. Isabella turned 18, the day before her MRI in fact and she is about to embark on a new adventure so it seems appropriate to bring this blog to an end.  Thank you to all who have read this and allowed me an outlet to share our news about Isabella's health and our family in general. Twelve years on, nearly, we are very grateful for all your love and support.

In September Isabella will begin University in the UK. She is very excited about this new adventure. The journey to this point has been a bit of a rollercoaster in the past few months, and continues to be so...

Girls about Rome with nonna

Not sure if you heard about this thing called, covid?! It has caused a lot of disruption, pain and loss on many levels around the world and will not be quickly forgotten.  We sincerely hope that you have been spared tragedy and that there will be a vaccine soon. In our small world we are thankful for good health, supportive family and friends (if only visible virtually or from afar), jobs, food on the table and a nice house and garden. However, the past few months have certainly been a challenge for both Isabella and Matilde. School basically ended abruptly in mid-March. While the school was quick to adapt to online schooling, when the exams (IB for Isabella and IGCSEs for Mati) were cancelled almost immediately, there was limited incentive to study (let alone get out of bed for some). Then the milestone celebrations - prom, high school graduation, 18th birthdays took on a new way of celebrating. and were not at all how they had been imagined. Not to mention no sleepovers, no going out with friends...not fun for teenagers. Despite this tortuous ride, both girls have shown their strength, resilience and adaptability during the pandemic.

Isabella's high school graduation was postponed multiple times; thankfully in the end we were able to come together with her class, a few teachers and parents  - less than 100 of us - socially distanced in a football stadium. It was a memorable (hot) happy event. Then the following day her IB results came out. Like many IB students around the world she was disappointed by her results. In a year without actual exams, the method in which the grades were awarded defied belief. She did achieve very good results, and above what was needed for the university course, but they were not as high as predicted. Then her results were not communicated to UCAS and so there was a two week delay before she received confirmation of her place. A very tense and anxious time! Now all is resolved and the University seems determined to open physically in September. Fingers crossed. So Isabella and I finally booked our flights and are ready to complete our two weeks quarantine prior to moving in, in mid-September. It was always going to be an emotional event, dropping her at University, but 2020 has brought an added dimension.

Over the past few months (20 weeks, I noted today) we have been keeping ourselves busy, running,  nice walks and bike rides, tending to the gardens, clearing out cupboards, making new cocktails, off-roading the jeep at the beach, dress up Fridays with a theme and plenty of cooking (from perfecting foccaccia to jam making or Great British Bake-off worthy cakes to endless pasta making). There have also been many projects. The biggest one has been managing the works at our house in Umbria. I am pleased to say it is all coming together. Sadly we were not able to get over there this summer nor do we know when we will get there. Mati and I are dreaming of Christmas in Italy at this point. But no plans yet.  Thankfully we were in Italy during the February half term break for a week to see the grandparents and we managed to meet a load of people and discuss various jobs that needed doing. We flew back to the US as covid-19 was exploding in Italy and then shortly after that everything came to a grinding halt. When things did open up in Italy in May and June we were able to begin to some works on the house and garden. Our neighbor has a great help and provided regular updates and photos so we have been able to order lights and furniture, choose paint colors etc etc etc and keep things moving.

Of course we wish we were sitting relaxing in Umbria... this summer's escape will be a week at a cabin a few hours drive away. We considered many options but right now we are really looking forward to escaping the heat of DC and switching off and a complete change of scenery. The cell phone reception is not supposed to be great where we are going, so we are expecting a complete break with some nice hikes and picnics. I am sure we will recharge the batteries, ready to face whatever the next few months will bring.

We hope you are all well and coping with the challenges that this pandemic brings you.

With lots of love,
Emma and family xxx