Good- Bye for Now

Our apartment here in Italy is under contract and we hope to close in July and head back to the states. What a grand adventure these last six years have been. Living in Italy immersed in another language and culture, traveling around Europe, making friends internationally, getting better acquainted with our extended family in Ireland is one of those life- changing, deeply enriching experiences that has forever changed me and my world view. From what I thought this might be to what it has been is so much more, so much richer as to be a whole other reality. My imagination was way too puny.

So, while I yearn for home, I am grateful to my Honey for working in Europe and inviting me to all the places he's traveled, to our friends here for making it all possible with friendship and generous assistance whenever needed, and to our family who only supports us and cheers us on despite not having us nearer. Altogether, and with our own bravery, it has meant an extraordinary opportunity in this, the youth of our old age. I've taken the first steps into retirement and into elderhood; I welcome the next stage.

I want to focus on the process of packing, saying good-bye to our friends and wrapping up our life here. I'm taking a break from my blog, which I started when we decided to move to Italy, while I do this. The next stage will be different in ways I can't imagine and will call for changes in my blog that I also can't imagine. Becoming acquainted with this virtual world of writers sharing your lives and considerable skills has been an amazing door opener for me. You've been my mentors, my inspiration and support in my efforts to stay conscious and write it down. I thank you. I wish you smooth journeys.

The First Time...

It was the moment that changed everything, that quietly
jumped over all the supposed prerequisites and landed
me in a whole other space bright and green with hope.

You sat across the table from me, the only thing between us
a plant, purple violettes weren't they? That and this new reality
just born that we had nurtured and waited for as all

new life is yearned for. Can a moment be pretty? The whole
of it was; you as sun caught the crystal wine glass at your lips
and refracted colors over your face, the song playing in the background,

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", which became our song,
encoded our love, marked this moment, locked it inside us
forever, drags us back each time from whatever brinks we devise

with its reminder of all we have, the slow crawl of the dance
we danced, for how could we not dance at such a moment?
That genesis, that natal moment, that start of love.

This is in response to Brian Miller's prompt in Poetics over at dVerse Poet's Pub to ask someone else for 2 nouns, 3 verbs, 3 adjectives and 2 random words. I asked my Honey and he gave me (in order): plant, table, jump, drag, crawl, green, pretty, bright, purple, wine. And a second prompt from Gretchen Leary, working with Brian, to write about a song that inspired you. Easy choice for me: "The First Time" by Roberta Flack.

Firsts

There's something about firsts that are not just memorable, but life changing. My granddaughter just started school in Trinidad. She begged her parents to go to school this year even though she's a little too young to be in kindergarten (4 1/2). It's a small school in a tiny village in the rain forest, though, so everyone who had to, agreed to her trying it out. Besides, her brother is a second grader in the same school and her sworn protector.

This is her uniform. She thinks she looks like a princess in it. I agree.

She was so excited to start, she practiced trying on her uniform every day for the week before school. She told her mother exactly how she wanted her hair done for the first day. Now, she gets herself showered, dressed and breakfast eaten in the morning as well as her homework done each evening so she's ready for school.

After the first day fear of "Oh, you're not staying at school with me Mom?", she's been fine, off in her new world. Her brother, the protector, is crushed though because she told him she wouldn't play with him at school: "You have your friends to play with and I have my friends." Both their lives are changed.

Made me think about the first time we do anything, when we get up our courage, prepare and just do it. All the fear and excitement and hope finally come together and we take another important step in our lives and change ourselves in the process. Good for my  brave granddaughter, good for each of us who overcome fear and move forward, good for us as a species as we evolve to better selves.