A visit to the eye doctor

Here is my first shot at being entertaining with an adventure in Italy. For some reason the base does not see children for eye exams and we have regularly had Aiden seen so of course we want to keep up with it so we went ahead and had the base schedule us an "off base" appt. with an Italian Optometrist.

The day arrived and Jeff was off so we made it a fun filled family adventure. I forgot to mention that the appointment was in another town by the name of Sacile (pronounced Sa-chill-ee) which is about 20 minutes from our home. So this meant that we had to get out the good old GPS to navigate our way through the winding, crazy streets.

We were off on our way with GPS and written directions in hand, so no problem right? We had to get to the main town square, which we did, a couple of times. :) Of course at one point we pulled over to mess with the GPS and read the directions a few times and headed back the way we came and got there!! I think it only took us an extra loop through the town square, which may be a record. And you must visualize all the Italians walking through the square and streets staring at our GIGANTIC car (we have a Chevy Tahoe for those of you who don't know) by their standards and our confused faces through the windows as we try to figure out where we are and where we are supposed to be.

I must add that the landmark we had to look for to know we were there was a "large wooden door" under the "porch" across the street from a certain clothing store. Sounds a little like Montana directions, huh! Good thing I was brought up that way or we'd be in big trouble. Jeff purchased our parking ticket as I started unloading all the children. We knew we had stairs to climb so no stroller for the girls so we each carried one. (this is important later in the story). The next part of our directions was to go to the large wooden door and ring the doorbell by the Doctor's name. So we did that and were let into the door into a courtyard. Many buildings and homes are set up this way and this was our first experience with the whole doorbell ringing, etc. Then we were to go into the door on the left (which was unmarked but had a bell), we went and rang it and were let in to the next phase. Then we were to climb a flight of stairs and see the door for the office-which was labeled "Studio". I wasn't sure if we were at the Optometrist or Dance class! And of course there is another bell so we ring it and are let into an office about the size of a large walk in closet.

We get checked in after some language barriers and made our way to the waiting room. There were a few people in there and I think they were shocked to see all 5 of us, who are obviously American. Now here is the part about no stroller. Since the girls cannot be restrained in the stroller, they are free to roam, which is a VERY bad thing. After they warmed up a bit to the people, they were off, trying to go into the exam room, secretary room, pushing chairs across the wood floor, and so on. Jeff had not had the opporunity to experience the craziness as much as I have and I think he was feeling a bit stressed. Aiden's name was called and I of couse, being the mother, HAD to go with him (more like I am not crazy enough to stay with the girls), which left Jeff with Thing 1 and Thing 2, as Jeff affectionately calls them (from Dr. Suess if you don't know what they are).

The Dr. spoke English which was nice and examined Aiden's eyes and then without warning, dialated his eyes with drops and of course Aiden was not too happy. Then we had to wait for 10 minutes in the waiting room, where I read books in Italian to Aiden (I can read it quite well, just have no idea what it says ) and go back in and let him examine him again. His equipment was quite different than what we are used to and not as up to date as ours. But it seemed to get the job done and all was fine with Aiden's eyes, except for the fast that his little pupils were the size of pancakes! My poor baby. Thankfully it was evening time when we left and so he could see ok.

Oh, and I must add, Jeff had left the building carrying both girls during the appt. because they had gotten out of contol (this happens quite often in our lives). I was entertained trying to visualize how he got out of the giant wooden door with the girls in tow, as it had a big latch.

We made it back home without getting lost and that was the end of that. I couldn't make the story as funny as it truly was because with most of our stories, you have to be there to really appreciate them. So try your best to visualize. Hopefully you will keep reading this and maybe I will get better at story telling.