Foreign Exchanges: Misson...Possible

Sunday night I received this email from my mother:

Here is your mission...should you choose to accept it...but really I'm your mom and you really have no choice or else I will be very dissappointed in you. Fine, that was for dramatic effect she didn't really type that but she did type this: Can you get me a cross for a boy on a chain (beckys boy) then when you are home we can go visit them. Also could you get it blessed??

You may think, why this request seems simple. You are in Italy for crying out loud finding a cross for a baby and getting it blessed should be a breeze. To quote Adam Sandler from the Wedding Singer "information I could have used yesterday". Well maybe not yesterday, although another day when stores were open would have helped, but if I had known this a week ago I would have had an abundance of choices on Ponte Vecchio in Florence! While I agree that under normal circumstances it wouldn't be a problem to fulfill this request but I was not under normal circumstances. First, I was leaving early Wednesday morning to come home. Second, most stores are closed in the morning or all day on Mondays. Third, we had a presentation to finish at work. Fourth, it was pouring rain.

At lunch on Monday, I asked Massimo if he could help me in this quest. He accepted the mission. We walked all over town and found no stores open. I had also mentioned my mission to my office mates and Cristina said she would look into finding out how we could get the crosses blessed. Another recruit to the mission. I left work around 6:30 to see if I could find any open before the 7:30 closing hour...did I mention it was pouring? I went to four stores and did not find any small crosses. Tuesday morning I arrived at work nervous that my mission would in fact be impossible. Cristina informed me that she had spoken with her sister who plays the organ at Santa Cristina in Piazza San Carlo. Her sister had asked the priest if he would be able to bless the cross and he said that he would be available until noon and from four to six. So now I had the priest, I just needed to find the cross! I waited until around 10:30 when most stores open and walked up to the jewelry store Massimo had suggested on Monday. They had three wonderful choices and after much debate I decided on one. Part one of the mission complete! We went to lunch to gear up for the rest of the mission.

Enrico, Veronica, Massimo, Eliana, Silvia and Cristina at lunch

All afternoon we worked on the presentation and all of a sudden it was almost 5:30. Cristina and I ran to her car, tore out of the parking space and made a mad dash to the church. We parked in the underground park under Piazza San Carlo and ran up the stairs and across the piazza to the church. As we approached we noticed three doors...time was running out which one do we choose? We quickly walked by the first two and thought the third looked the most promising. Eureka! It was the right one (sure it had a sign on the door indicating it was the Sacristy but I like to think we made a good "guess"). The priest was waiting for us inside and performed the blessing of Jackson's cross and the cross I had purchased in Florence in the nick of time. Mission complete! (OK fine the last part was an exaggeration with the tire squealing and the running but we really did cut it close). We went inside to look at the church and Cristina showed me the organ that her sister plays. The beauty of the churches here still amazes me. Thanks to all who helped in this mission!

Santa Cristina in Piazza San Carlo