I is for International

So, I was going to post about Islam for the letter "I" this week, but today, it was just too heavy.

I got to thinking about other "I" lettered things in my life, and I realized I have traveled and lived quite Internationally. Sometimes out out of necessity, other times by force, and now, often of my own volition.

No, I may not have lived in Ionia, Iraq, or Iceland, but, we did elope to ITALY on 08-08-08, our magic numbered day.

Chiesa di Santa Susanna was our nuptial locale, where we said I do.
On this wonderous day, I was Immune to the heat and humidity of Rome in August.
Inspiration from the movie "Gladiator" landed us with our photographer here...

...still here...

...and I was Indebted to my Belov-Ed for watching over me after Imbibing formidable vino Italiano...(I know, I know, drinking wine? How Incredibly un-Islamic of me!)

Iconic spires and columns of Italy's Vatican we visited.

Italy's Immigrant gypsy perhaps...

Italy's Imaginative rooftop and balcony gardens...

And her Idle canals meandering through life.

From Italy we skipped on over to the IBERIAN PENINSULA to honeymoon in Spain...but alas, Blogger will not allow me to upload those pictures for now. I would have loved to have shown you Platja d' Aro!

Long before elopement and fair travels, I was a but a refugee of my beloved Afghanistan, fleeing the Soviets, and landing in IRAN...

Life in Tehran was grand, and "daycations" to beautiful ISFAHAN even more so.
Can you Imagine the Incredible Ink of Indigo blue needed to paint this Immaculate mosque? Can you also Imagine how many times I've had to click "Control + I"???? Italics will be the death of me this day! :-)

Isfahan's famous feats of architecture and physics...her bridges....the Greeks and the Persians, full of Irk and Ire to this day, quarreling over who taught whom...

I was one of them once, Innocent and curious, skipping along to school in Tehran, until the Ayatollah made it Impossible for us to breathe...

...we left behind my beloved pomegranate Infatuation of Iran (and hopefully the Incredulous monobrow on this chick!)...

...and fled to ISTANBUL...
...where the history and lore was Inescapable.

Gasp! Were pomegranates Immigrants as well? Why, they had followed me!

Refugee life wasn't glitz and glamour in Istanbul, but more like a cramped, Insufferable Immersion of color,
scents,

and sound.
Our refugee journey ended in Chicago, ILLINOIS, after Istanbul, and then Athens. Indiana was right next door, and I visited her quite often. Whew. Ya'll have heard the rest of the story countless times, so I won't bore you to pieces. I'll stop here!

Thank you to Jen over at http://unglazed.blogspot.com/ because until today I had absolutely no IDEA how much the letter "I" has been a part of the travels of my life. Amazing! I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but it's late and I don't want to piss off Blogger!!!

Please be sure to check out Jen's blog to see what other fellow Blogistani peeps have done with this Immensely Insane letter "I"!!!!