I brought my ass home!

Italian

When I was a  young man, I played accordion in a folk band.
We traveled around, crammed into a small truck which was totally full of musical instruments. We drove a lot of kilometers too.
At the end of those evenings, we dismantled everything, and the truck brought us back to the place where we had gathered. Each of us in his own car, we then all went home.
Very young, driving in the deepest night, destroyed by exhaustion, I hoped to arrive at home in one piece.
And when, finally, I turned into the street of my house,  I said to myself: "I brought my ass home!"

Then the day of departure for military service arrived.
Not wanting to throw a year of my life into the weeds, I decided to work a bit harder and enrolled in a cadet course for fixed term officers. Five months in Rome (training, marching, guards at the Quirinale, ...), followed by another ten months as a second lieutenant at Bellinzago in Novara province (Readiness for operations, field camp, simulation of  battlefield conditions, ...).
On the day of my discharge I was beyond tired after  finishing a 24 hour shift as Duty Officer. I drove home still dressed in a combat uniform.
And again turning  into the street of my house, I said to myself: "I brought my ass home!"

I began to work as a sales representative, selling mobile telephones when they were still  brand new technology. In the  houses there were still gray electromechanical SIP phones but I had a brand new Panasonic portable device that was as big as a dictionary.
At the beginning, when I asked  what territory I was supposed to work, the reply was: Emilia Romagna!
So, I began to hit the highway between Piacenza and Cesena, grinding out hundreds of kilometers each day.
Each night the trip to return home was a battle against falling asleep.
Finally, turning into the street of my house, I used to say to myself: "I brought my ass home!"

Then the leukemia arrived. From one evening to the next morning I found myself near death in the hospital.
The doctors stuffed me with medicines. I did radio therapy and several rounds of chemotherapy. I had a bone marrow transplant and felt the tremendous effects of Bone Marrow Aplasia.
On the day I was dismissed I weighted 55 kilos and could barely stand.
My wife drove me home in the car.
And still once more, as I turned the corner to the street of house, I said to myself: "I brought my ass home!"