Other Lands

I’m back from other lands, in this case, Italy.  It was a well-needed break from a stretch of driven writing, and a chance to ponder views out new windows. The green, rolling hillsides of springtime Tuscany gave me a sense of wonder.  Trying always to translate Italian felt like a puzzle that never stopped, until my brain was fried by the end of each day.  I relished the intense flavors of cheese, chickpea soup, and a cone of coconut and chocolate gelato.  Relaxing one afternoon, I had the easy pleasure of watching school kids on a field trip sit on the steps for a group photo.  I was spellbound by a nun and fellow cantor whom I heard practicing the Victimae Paschali Laudes in the hilltop church of Santa Marguerite in Cortona.  We climbed the 200+ steps to visit the stunted, miraculous trees on the Guinigi tower of Lucca, the town of my ancestors.

Pienza, Italy

It felt not only that I was far away, physically, but far into another time, too; not past or future, but alternate. It was tempting, everywhere, to store up impressions and perspectives to include in my writing, but even more, it was sweet to live in the moment.

My arrival back home means a return to familiarity and routine, but everything feels new again, pure and angled, if that makes sense.  On the down side, my neglected social media include several stinging responses to my novels.  That’s reality, too. My re-entry into my life from far away reminds me I should actively choose my actions, and not fall into patterns just because they’re convenient.  After all, I’m not the same girl who left a week ago.