TramJazz!

Tonight we celebrated my 60th birthday with an evening on Tram Jazz, a historic tram car refurbished as a rolling dinner/jazz club. We started at Porta Maggiore, which I blogged about before, with appetizers and prosecco on the tram. 

Then we got started riding around Rome as the dinner continued.

We stopped outside at the National Gallery of Modern Art for the jazz performance.

Also later for people to get out and walk around at the Coliseum. 

Our tablemates were a couple from Fort Lauderdale, Harvey and Arlene Austin, who were planning a move to Medford, Oregon later in the fall. Both in their early 80s, they were in Rome on their honeymoon (with a two-week Mediterranean cruise to follow)! Harvey, it turns out, is a “conscious aging” proponent, familiar with the work of Reb Zalman, whose book, From Aging to Sageing, I’ve studied with the help of Pat Lewis, a friend who has done seminars and retreats on the subject for many years in Seattle. Turns out that Harvey has his own book and is also a speaker on the topic. We had a wonderful conversation about making changes and taking chances in life. There was a lot of “auguri” to go around!

Not a great photo given the low light but I wanted to remember them!

I had saved my birthday card from yesterday to open at the dinner.

But it was much more than a card. Brad has arranged a trip for us to Vienna in February for the opera season! We spent our honeymoon in that lovely little city and have often daydreamed about going back to attend one of the balls one day. (Ballare, to dance.) I felt so nostalgic and a little overwhelmed. When the couple sitting at the next table (originally from Pretoria, South Africa, where I have many cousins) overheard our discussion, they whipped out their cellphones to show us photos of themselves at the same ball two years ago. 

It was a wonderful and touching night. I love my husband so much!