blissful and like no other
My family keeps accusing me of being forgetful. They say I don’t remember lots of little things. I say, I don’t remember little menial things, allowing the irritatingly trite and mundane to easily slip away. But, my memory is completely intact when it comes to what I want to remember, down to every minute detail and moment – those moments of time which will never slip away, ever……….
It’s funny when one experiences trepidation about doing certain things – especially when one is not certain one wants to do them. On the other hand, when someone wants to do something, and happily so, one has no trepidation, only the lightness of heart and soul and a giddiness and glee like no other.
All week long I have had this eery feeling that I was somewhere else. This happens to me often. The lacking weather here makes this easy when compared to what I know to be possible and is occurring elsewhere .
I must tell you that I think, as I approach my 60th birthday, that I can honestly say I must have finally left the travails of my childhood behind – and they were some nasty times. I can say this because a new and gaping hole in my heart has replaced them. And, it has nothing to do with my childhood. It’s deeper and lingering and haunting like no other. I have a hole in my heart for Italy (well you knew this already, I know). Yes, it is an aching, soreness and rueful longing that I can not escape, rationalize nor do I want to. Perhaps, just perhaps, the vacating of the past allowed me to finally open up to a new passionate embrace of the present, one absent in the best of senses ever before.
My sister-in-law Cindy told me the other day that she is planning a trip for their 40th anniversary. Ever since she told me this, I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind – well that and the aforementioned calendar-effect . If a quick read of this post and those linked below don’t get you, I don’t know what will. I am happily awaiting my next trip, one George and I will take for our 35th wedding anniversary. (This could be the one where I don’t return – but oops, don’t tell anyone, shhhh).
When I awoke this morning, these were the extemporaneous memories which were flowing in my mind……
I am walking down the Via Veneto with Ryan in the morning, stumbling along over the cobblestones and stubbing the toes of my shoes often. Does this bother me? No. I’m happy! The sun is warm and the air is dry and light. The scallopine luncheons, the dinner at the Brunello Lounge, a daily stop in at Laduree, yes, Laduree delight me. I am walking down and glimpsing the Spanish Steps at dusk, the lights glowing and highlighting the crowds and the Chestnut vendor who tends the corner. I am lured in to view each and every mold-covered prosciutto hanging in the market at Campo di Fiori. I lose myself among the vendors and their offerings. The ruins mingle tellingly while Vespas and Fiats whizz by. I am arriving in Naples via train and being picked up by Christiano and driven along the bay of Naples and up into Positano. We bypass Sorrento and I yearn. I am walking along the enchanting lanes of town in the intense verticality and visit with the shopkeepers. I am being lured in to see their beautifully crafted offerings. I am being hauntingly enchanted by Le Sirenuse, and Palazzo Murat and their garden, where I could stay forever. I am gazing out at the azure blue sea. Chef Temperini steps up to our table at lunch and silently “asks” to step by to get to his pots of herbs. He leaves a stem of Lemon Verbena, silently at my place as he returns to the kitchen. The flowers and the lemons are intoxicating. A dinner up the mountain in Montepertuso is like a dream, dining on the edge, literally in the darkness as the proprietor serenades us with his soulful saxophone after he has ensured everyone has their entree. We fly off to Catania and arrive in Sicily, a land where I had imagined life to be hard, stark and the very definition of earthy. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Taormina is a soulful and beautiful place, almost hauntingly so. The views from town are amazing and I am certain I could stay here and blend and meld into the life. I look into the faces of those who dwell here and I see contentment……….
Should you (or I) need any further reminiscences, feel free to peruse the following. Just a snippet of favorite photos, here. I know I do and will……..
Rome:
http://www.kitchen-inspirational.com/2013/05/12/back-from-italy-page-1-with-thoughts-on-mothers-day/
http://www.kitchen-inspirational.com/2013/05/13/when-in-rome-page-2-campo-de-fiori-and-more/ http://www.kitchen-inspirational.com/2013/05/14/walkabout-finishing-up-on-rome/
Positano: http://www.kitchen-inspirational.com/2013/05/15/its-a-vertical-life-in-positano-it-is-squisito/
Taormina, Sicily: https://kitchen-inspirational.com/2013/05/18/surprising-taormina-sicily/
To say I miss you is to dismiss the depth of it all……I’ll be seeing you soon, I will……….
