Welcome

I have all these friends who have been bugging me (in a nice way, of course) get going with my blog - the problem is finding time to actually post.  Well, I'm going to try to commit to do this regularly (whatever that means!) and see where it takes me.  
The title comes from a suggestion from my third son, Michael, who lives in San Francisco and knows all about this stuff - and he knows a lot about me too, which I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with!
It means 'the crazy woman" which is how I feel at this time in my life. It's in Italian which I am - my mom was born in Ripacandida, Italy, a little mountain town in the province of Potenza.  My dad's family is from near Palermo, Sicily.  I served an LDS mission to northern Italy and, with the help of a refresher class in Italian last fall, i can understand and speak Italian quite poorly but I am working on that.  When I was in high school, the last thing I wanted anyone to know was that I was Italian (I wanted so badly to fit in which, of course, I didn't anyway. Everyone thought I was Jewish because of my Roman nose which I later got fixed but wish I hadn't because that was part of who I am.)  I am now ready to accept myself as I am and maybe this blog will be about what I've learned on my journey to to do that.  
So, I'm not quite sure where this is going to take me yet but it will be a new adventure.  And I think I'm ready for a new adventure... anyway I will be blogging about lots of stuff - I'm new to this but I'm taking a class right now from the amazing Dr. Sharon Swenson and she has really inspired me!  Last night we were talking about mommy blogging, which I probably would have done 20 years ago when my kids were little but now I am boing to blog about older mommy stuff - grandparenting and thoughts about transitions and life changes.  I think that we often think, when we're teenagers, that if we make all the right plans and do all the right stuff in the right order, everything in life will turn out right.  The reality is that life happens, and we have to constantly be adjusting to the different things life throws at us.  We can either kick and fight against what comes, or learn to manipulate through all the twists and turns with fluidity, grace, and humor (which I've learned is essential or we may as well all just give up now!)
So here we go - I hope to pick up some new friends throughout this journey.

Me

Well, I have finally created a blog - a digital picture of myself and where I am right now. I hope to write  about my life, my friends, my new experiences and what I am learning. La Pazza means "madwoman." I am, in a way, because of what I have experienced in my life - loss, love, change. I am a caterpillar that has metamorphosed into what? I'm still discovering what that is.