Christine London's A Leap of Faith

I know, just by looking at you that you all think I am crazy, and you're probably right. I mean here I am in Italy, on an all expense paid holiday...and I'm sure it won't matter to any of you WHY my Uncle paid for this trip...he thought I should hook up with an Italian husband and was willing to shell out mucho lira to convince me to do that. Okay, on the surface I am in History's Heaven. Just look at the sights...



The Leaning Tower of Pisa...Technically an engineering disaster, but the Italians figured out how to turn this monumental BooBoo into something everyone all around the world is eager to see...except me. Stop rolling your eyes. I've already admitted I'm probably insane...still...

The Vatican City and even the Pope's Throne Room are impressive. Where else can you see a Sea of Men wearing red beanies and not looking the least bit embarrassed to do so before a man wearing the infamous Ring of Saint Peter?

But I'll be honest, the place I found most entertaining I wasn't even supposed to see...since I'm a girl.

Behold the Vatican Wee-Room. I heard that snort, and you're right. That probably was a bit irreverent, but hey, look at these things? Can you hold a straight face and imagine the creme of the Vatican not cracking up facing these urinals? I can't help wondering who the designer of these works of art was.

I'm sorry, I still burst out every time I see these porcelain functionals.


Castles, Italy has lots and lots of castles. I was sorta hoping to run into a ghost or two while visiting them to stir things up...

I think I saw one here, but I'd just had a bottle of vintage vino with my pizza at lunch...so I may be wrong.

Still it is pretty amazing that these castles are still standing and overpowering the landscape that surrounds them.

I decided to check out Venice and it truly is a spectacular city. I was going to ride in one of their gondolas, but the gondola captain being Italian, was giving me that eye and I immediately remembered why my uncle sent me here so gave him what I hope was a jaunty wave, and scurried on by.

The Italians do like to sit and bask in the awe-inspiring scenic backgrounds that you can find on just about every inch of all that comprises Italy. And yes, they do have hunky guys...if only my uncle hadn't been so darned insistent about why he sent me here I might have dabbled a bit more in their many amorous fountains.

Like this guy resting here. I know you can't tell from this picture, but...


...he's got the sexiest eyes I have seen since I left the States. What a shame I had to keep my distance.

Italy has a whole lot of really death defying art on their ceilings.
I have a really healthy respect for high places. When I think about the "when" of these paintings, and what had to have been used to anchor those artists all the way up there...the word "vertigo" starts spinning around inside my head...and yeah, my body too.

On a purely personal note, I HAD to see Pompeii for myself. I had to look upon the city that had been that rich but still couldn't convince the gods not to squish them beneath tons and tons, and tons of ash and stone.

Many modern Italians still live this close to the instrument of all that destruction, but they look upon Vesuvius as a benevolent garden of rich farming soil. They are either very brave, or very foolhardy. I'm not sure which...but you can be pretty sure I was not looking for a, rich, or poor for that matter, Italian husband near the Pompeii ruins.

They say the real stars of ancient Rome were those that competed here, in the Colosseum. Being a film student, I have seen some of the Hollywood hunks...okay Gerard Butler and Russel Crowe are not TECHNICALLY from Hollywood, still they played hunky gladiator types in some of Hollywood's classic films...

...classic films, classic sights. Classic films. Lordy but I miss my first love. Yep, despite being here in this ancient majesty, I'd rather be back in my classes because I am Faith Holmes, film student, not Faith Holmes Italian husband scavenger.

"Oh My Goodness...I just heard about the Forio's exclusive International Film Festival out there on that island. And Alex Winslow, that English Film Sensation is going to be there. How hard can it be for an ingenious American girl like myself to crash the party?"


Join Christine London as she weaves the rest of Faith Holmes' Italian story.

Leap of Faith, by Christine London, cover art by Alex Kent, and released by AweStruck Publishing. Click Here to follow Christine to her personal website and learn more about her, Faith and Faith's International Film Festival adventure.

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Sometimes you need to remember words from the past.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010The Fate's At Play
Have you ever noticed that the Fate's tend to give unimaginable joy on one sweep from their weaving loom and devastating anguish with the next?

On March 28th, my first manuscript was sent to the publisher by my published daughter's editor. The very next day, I received my contract. You cannot imagine the state of euphoria that engulfed me and is still encircling me...but it is now tempered by reality as well.

Let me explain.

Since just before Christmas, my daughter has been battling a series of sinus infections, one after another. Hers are bad enough to require the heavy duty antibiotics...nothing mild mannered like, oh penicillin...no they put her on things like Cipro, which we learned she is DEATHLY allergic to after I nearly lost her in January. They switched her to Augmentin. It cleared up the infection...for a few days, but then it was back again with a vengeance. Her sinus infections make her sinuses bleed, a lot, which brings on anemia...something she has yet to bounce back from.

She had not worked through the last sinus infection completely when she was rushed to the hospital and operated on this month on March 17th for a kidney stone...two weeks ago to the day at four o'clock this afternoon, to be exact. Oh and when her surgeon called to let me know her progress, because I'm disabled and cannot drive, so could not be with her when she had to face her ordeal, much to my eternal agony, he told me she had many more stones, but they were not critical at that moment so would not need to be operated on...yet.

She came home at nine o'clock the same night she was operated on. I know what you are all thinking and yes, I can see you shaking your heads in disbelief, because I did the same thing. I could not imagine them sending her home that quickly, but you know how things are today with our medical health system. What they used to keep you in for at least a day or two, you now get sent home for twenty minutes later.

She was recovering...somewhat. Her side is still tender from the surgery and the ripping the stone did while it was moving and cutting her urinary tract. (She passes a lot of blood out her sinuses and now is passing a lot of blood out her urinary tract as well.) I had to sit here and watch my daughter fade before my eyes while trying everything I could think of to bolster her. (I've had a LOT of practise doing this, which I will explain as I go on, doing this over the years.)

She loves vegetable soup. I went to the store and bought so much vegetable soup I broke the larder shelf under the weight of all those cans, but she won't starve and it doesn't take much energy to lift soup to her lips.

Last week her sinuses began infecting again. This time they swelled so badly I can actually see the cavities formed on both sides on her nose and feel the fullness beneath these swollen mounds. She is scheduled for ct scans, x-rays and an endoscopy of her sinuses tomorrow and is most likely going to need surgery. She has blood work and a whole battery of other tests scheduled for Friday. Due to her seizures, which come on without warning, she is required to go to all of her appointments in an ambulance with at least one paramedic in attendence.

You'd think the Fates would let her deal JUST with the sinuses, right, but last Thursday they decided she needed to have another stone flair into raging and gouging prominence. A prominence that has her praying she won't have to call for the ambulance again and be whisked to the emergency room and immediate surgery. And in case any of you have forgotten, let me repeat again ONLY two weeks as of four o'clock this afternoon, after her LAST stone-ectomy.

Yesterday she learned that three more of her own novels have been contracted, which means she will soon be involved in the editing process, and she is so weak she's afraid she will let her editor, her publisher and me, down. (Believe me, she will punch through because she will not let ANY of us down, no matter what!)

Let me tell you a little bit about my daughter and who she really is...on November 26, 2001 she had major surgery on her left ankle. At the time she was a high powered auditor working out of the corporate offices of The Burlington Coat Factory with 18 of their west coast stores in her control. She was responsible for their daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tally reports.

Her ankle had literally snapped! The surgeon told us the ligament had indeed snapped, so he was going to go in and cut the damaged part away and suture back the good part...sounds simple right? Oh if only that were the case!

I was with her that day waiting in the waiting room and the surgeon came to me after he finished and this is what he told me. When he got inside he found a mess. The ligament was destroyed. All the flesh had been eaten away by scar tissue. He had to go up into her thigh and remove a tendon to fashion a pseudo ligament to graft and then staple it to the bones in her ankle in four places to give her any kind of control over the movement of her ankle and foot. It would not be perfect, but at least she would have some mobility. She would have an ugly eight inch scar running up her lower leg because he'd had to remove all that scar tissue. What was to have been simple surgery had become major surgery She would be in a wheel chair for six months and physical therapy would follow.

The Coat Factory's insurance is such that despite being in horrific pain, to keep it, she had to go back to work three days after the surgery and she was going to need it for all the after care and physical therapy to come. Kat would never let her store's receive less than the clearest of her mind's abilities, so she refused to take her pain meds while she worked. She punched through because letting those that count on her down is not in her makeup.

Kat was my rock through two bouts of cancer. She puts everyone else first and has since the day she was born. Sometimes you cannot take on anymore when your resitance levels, your energy levels are so low and your pain levels are so high. She is losing blood, she is too close to breaking and it takes a great deal to break this incredible young woman.

So I want to beseech the Fate...Give Her a BREAK!!!
Posted by Lin at 5:57 AM 3 comments:
MuseItUp Publishing said...
How is she doing? As a mom I was literally in tears feeling your pain. I'll keep her in my thoughts and prayers. Chin up, mom, it's such a hardship on parents to see their children, regardless what age, go through hard times.

April 9, 2010 6:59 AM
Lin said...
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. It has been a difficult week. She passed one stone only to have two more immediately decide to follow. Her blood work came back and it seems her para-thyroid is acting up and we find out tomorrow if that is the root cause that will have to be removed. I am trying to locate software that is not too expensive that will respond to voice recognition so she can continue her writing without having to sit here at the computer where she is uncomfortable with the stones. If anyone out there has any ideas please let me know...and thanks all for you help. I promise to try to do a better date of updating my blog entries in the future.

April 12, 2010 8:48 PM
Kaye Manro said...
Hello Lin! Thanks for stopping by my blog for the big Forbidden Love cover!

I love you daughter Kat too. I think she is wonderful!

April 13, 2010 11:58 AM
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The Versatile Blogger Award

The Versatile Blogger Award




I was absolutely shocked when I opened my email and found out I received this award.
I am honored to receive it. However, it comes with a few rules.
1. Thank those who loved me enough to bestow this gift.

2. Share seven things about myself.

3. Bestow this honor onto 15 newly discovered or followed bloggers–in no particular order–who are fantastic in some way.

4. Drop by and let my fifteen new friends know I love them.

Thank you for this honor, Lea. You honor me with more than just this award, but you already know how I feel about you.

Seven things about myself...oh dear.

1.) I used to go fishing every year at the creek like everyone else in my town on the first day of fishing, but I slipped behind Halp's cabin and slipped baloney on my hook out of sight of others because I hated the feel of worms. I wonder if that's why I never caught anything. I think the fish knew baloney was processed pseudo food and not a wiggly, I suppose, tasty worm.

2.) I got my first kiss while playing hide 'n' seek in the cornfield when I was seven from Salty Millard.

3.) When I was in school we did a rushed job putting Romeo and Juliet on. I had the role of the Chief Watch. Because it was rushed, the teacher/director, allowed the "actors" to have their lines in crib notes stashed all over the stage. I was the only one who actually had them memorized.

4.) I spent the first eight years of school in Catholic school...never had day of gym till ninth grade, and found I really hated the rings, softball, sit ups, and laps around the track.

5.) My best friend was my German Shepard Heidi and she loved water, so when my folks weren't looking, like at midnight, we'd sneak out of the house and jump in the pool and frolic together for hours. She was so much fun and did a really mean dog paddle.

6.) Much to her teacher's chagrin, I let Kat start reading adult novels when she was 12. Made her the envy of all her peers, but she took a speed reading course and grew out of tween stuff by the time she was nine. It was either let her read mature themes or have her give up her first love.

7.) When I was seven, the Erie locks scared the bejeeburs out of me so much I'm still afraid to look down from high places.

Now we come to the tough stuff...other people with blogs that haven't already been given this award by my estimable friends.

I actually don't have any new ones.

My son used to have one...I haven't been there in awhile, so don't know if it's still up, but hold on while I check...It's not exactly a blog...it's more a website. My son is a master welder, and some of the amazing pieces he's created are here. So

1.) Chris Rydbom

All I can do is name 14 other people whom I love from the bottom of my heart that are not bloggers, but if they were would be very creative indeed.

2.) My children's uncle, Retired Colonel Eric Rydbom: Eric is the brother I wish I always had, but will never give back now.

3.) Reverend Audrey Rydbom, Eric's wife and a sister anyone would be proud to take into their heart forever more

4.) Elsie Rydbom, my beautiful new daughter by marriage. She gave my son back his smile. I am forever in her debt.

5.) Margaret Cutshall, my beloved and deeply missed Grandmother. Nonnie, you gave me the foundation of honor. Thank you for sticking around those extra six years.

6.) Claire Zelman, someone who came into my world and showed me how to find home. Love you Claire.

7.) Mary Powers an 80 plus year old woman who would have been an amazing blogger with stories to tell and a wonderful way of doing so.

8.) Katie Sickle, another 80 plusser who lived with Mary when I was a child and enthralled this girl to never stop dreaming.

9.) Winnie Dozier a 75 year old woman who survived the Blitzkrieg, and interracial prejudice in America's south before Martin Luther King made strides in equal rights.

10.) Alice Derkye, an 83 year old woman who survived Hitler and is the most gracious, gentle spirit I have ever known...in spite of Hitler.

11.) Evelyn Santillo, a 78 year old woman with advanced Parkinson's Disease who still jumps up to help others. I hope I am as giving and caring as she is when I reach her age.

12.) Detective Walt Ward, who showed me the way towards freedom and serenity.

13.) Bill Riches, my mentor. He showed me what a truly honorable teacher should be and instilled the patience that was second nature to him when dealing with the many challenges educating children born with Down Syndrome. I miss you Bill.

14.) Herb Friese. I took your classes because I wanted some background in the Criminal Justice system and learned not all law enforcement officers are power hungry and come even have astounding senses of humor, and because of you my AS degree has Criminal Justice as one of my co-majors. I couldn't get enough of learning at your feet. Thanks Herb, and I miss you horribly too.

15.) Perry Kaufmann, you made me apply the Sociology courses to my real life, and grow; you also honored me when you changed you curriculum because of what I..little me...taught you.

and please understand I must add one more:

16.) Michael Intintoli. I took Anthropology to fulfill my Liberal Arts requirements and you made me write about a modern society with humor. Although I no longer have that paper, I will never forget the investigative process it took to write about today's Eraflew society. (For those of you who don't recognize the Eraflew society, spell it backwards.)

I know this does not meet the written requirements of my awards, but each of these people named here would have amazing blogs if they had them. So I hope all of you, including you Daughter of mine, will forgive me for taking this shortcut.