One year ago today we arrived at SFO late morning for our flight to Los Angeles & then onto Paris. We were beginning our “Italian Adventure” & while we were checking & re-checking the thousand details that go along with closing up life in one place & re-opening it in another, all 3 of us were bubbling over with excitement & anticipation. The documents we had in hand were minimal—our US Passport & Italian long-term residency visa & the trip/entry into Europe was unremarkably smooth. Fast-forward 365 days & in my wildest nightmares I couldn’t have imagined how different the world would be…
Now & indefinitely American Citizens are barred from most every international destination & sadly, understandably so. We’re 6+ months past the invasion of Coronavirus onto US soil & while we did a brief, mediocre shelter-in-place (sorry folks, we can’t even call our springtime effort a true ‘lockdown’) - that didn’t quite do what it was supposed to do – we’ve kind of thrown up our hands & said awww, what the heck & reopened most everything for summertime fun while said virus has chugged steadily along to reach peak numbers & its progression continues still.
I gotta be honest—I’m doing a lot of wincing lately when I scroll through my Facebook feed… seeing traditional “back to school” pics, but most with kids on the front stoop in sweat pants, or grimacing before a computer screen. Those images are intermingled with “our family summer vacation 2020” shots, shots of endless social gatherings – at the beach, at the lake, at a BBQ, at a dinner party, but then there’s the juxtaposition of captions like “we’re in this together” & “let’s do the right thing”. This, while some folks are still pumping their fists about freedoms & rights & squabbling about to mask, or not to mask.
Holy moly. Seriously. WHAT IS THE PLAN??!? What is the plan for the escape route from this total shit situation the United States has crafted for itself the past half-year? Just keep partying & vacationing & gathering, but blow a bunch of dandelion seeds into the wind while picking up lucky pennies & then making wishes on shooting stars that Coronavirus will quit being such a meanie & go away?!?!
I know, I need to quit harping on this subject, but I’m honestly on Team United States yet not seeing a one of her strategies. What’s that all too apropos Albert Einstein saying-- "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”??
Anyhoo… back to a year ago. We enjoyed this magnificent two-week road trip through France & into Switzerland, eventually making our way to Firenze. I remember being so dang nervous as we followed the GPS route to our new place, having only seen it in photos. As we crunched along the gravel driveway I sent a tiny “please let it be ok” prayer into the universe & man, was it ever answered! Our little 800 sq ft casa in the hills was (is) filled with all the Italian charm & design accoutrements you’d expect (beamwork & tile on the ceilings, terracotta flooring, white walls, views of olive groves & cypress trees). That evening I tossed together a pasta meal & caprese salad as we sipped Chianti in the sweltering August humidity, swirling in equal parts happiness & surrealness.
While today marked day 1 of our Italian Adventure (part 1), it now marks 1 day until we’re finished with our self-quarantine…. let me jot that down again, self-quarantine; what a difference a year makes.
I have to say, this time around is so different in that the scary newness & total overwhelm is gone (I lost fistfuls & fistfuls of hair, for excruciating months, in fall 2019… 2020 the tresses are staying intact). This house feels like home. I know how the A/C, TV & washer work, I know where the pots, pans, plates & silverware are, our landlady & her family are no longer unfamiliar faces but now dear & treasured friends. Caiden connects with their kids in that easy way that children do when they’ve shared time & memories, play & giggles. I still bumble my Italian but in a much more robust & comprehensible way! :) I know what Sfoglia is & how to prepare it, I can adeptly purchase fruits & vegetables in the supermercato—having mastered the weigh & sticker method mandated in the produce aisle. I know how to get to central Firenze without GPS (via bike or car) & where the best gelato & panini shops are. I have my favorite cafes for my morning cappucco decaffenato & it warms me in an inexplicable way when the ladies behind the counter light up & say “buongiorno, come sta?” each time we come through the door. I’m also skilled at looking away unknowingly every time the elderly owner woman sneaks a caramello into Caiden’s hand.
For all the years I’ve lived in Truckee I’ve never understood why anyone would purchase a second home there, or anywhere else for that matter. What’s always befuddled me is why someone would want to go back to the same place, over & over & over, when there’s soooo much of this grand & splendid world to see & so little time to do it?! But, Italia/Firenze has perhaps changed this for me. I love the familiarity & comfort of returning to somewhere you deeply love & taking the time to really explore, to intimately get to know a place.
One year ago I was poised on the edge of my seat to see what excitement lie ahead, yet nothing could’ve prepared me for all that we encountered. If I can send yet another little prayer into the universe it’s that this year, this Italian Adventure (part II), is again full of surprise, elation & exploration -- but please ethos/cosmos/powers that be—how about you take it down a notch this time around? :)
And with that I’ll say again what I said so articulately on this day last year --- here we gooooooooo!!
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