When we arrived after a long flight and cab ride, we all decided to take
naps. I, however, wanted to shower first and began unpacking. Guess what I couldn't find? Yep – the make-up bag was missing. My son had dropped his book in the plane and it skidded several seats back. He was so intent on finding
the book that he put the bag on the floor and forgot it. The hotel's concierge contacted the airlines but no one had found the bag. Weary, but with the knowledge that I would want to brush my teeth at some point, we walked
the streets of Rome until we replaced most of the things in it – at a cost of about $200. I was not a happy camper, but was determined not to let it ruin my trip – just my son's.
Since Ryan's mother is Catholic and wanted
to attend a Papal general audience, we decided we'd all go. To set the stage, you must first understand that the two boys each had persuaded their fathers to buy them a cheap toy hawked by street vendors. It consisted of some
fine, white powder – something like corn starch – inside a little rubber balloon-like thing painted with a face. It looked and felt like those things people squeeze for physical therapy. Unbeknownst to us, Evan had his in his coat
pocket.
We arrived at the Vatican and found seats in the Papal general audience chamber, where several hundred people were already waiting. Evan decided to pass the time by playing with his toy. Suddenly, the thing
burst open, spraying white powder all over us, the seats and other people.
With only minutes to go until his Holiness made his entrance, my spouse snatched up our son – who at that point looked like Casper the ghost – and
dragged him to the crowded bathroom to clean him up. In the meantime, the rest of us were busy brushing white powder off us and everything in sight.
Both made it back in time for the Pope's entrance, but Evan spent the rest
of the morning in the dog house. By the time we made it back to the hotel, he was contemplating a bleak future: We'd only been on the road for a couple of days and already he'd lost several hundred dollars of my belongings and
managed to create a disturbance at the Vatican. What was next, I wondered, dismantling the Coliseum?
I wanted to French fry his fanny, but he was saved when we returned to the hotel when the concierge smilingly handed me
my make-up bag. The airlines had found it, after all.
Evan was elated when he saw that bag. Heaving a huge sigh of relief he looked at me and said, "I sure am glad they found your bag, Mom. Now all you've got against me is
when I s'ploded that thing in front of the Pope!"
It was one "s'plosion" I'm sure I'll never forget.
