Jet lag is difficult for people with normal sleep patterns. Imagine how I am struggling. My sleep patterns are inexplicable and I manage to live with very little quality zees but I do hit the proverbial wall by early evening, still wake up before five in the morning. So, my days are super-long.
Allow me to pick up where I left off. I'm great at recollection when I write early in the day.
Our departure from Assisi came on a brilliantly blue-skied day last Thursday. A last-minute visit with my friend Josie from whom I bought the most-elegant silk scarf for my mother-in-law and from whom I was gifted an equally elegant silk poncho which she made me promise I would show everyone and help her to promote her business. I will gladly do that but worry that most people will simply think it is pretty, hear the price, and drop it at there. Italian silk is expensive as a raw material and with her artwork gracing each piece, the price is high. We have a problem with that, living here in the land of abundance. We have too many choices. We live the disposable life and are reluctant to plunk down a couple of hundred dollars on anything that we can pay less for at a designer discount store. But I will try. I made a promise.
The Sulga bus goes from Assisi to the Rome Airport.......eventually. We departed at 1:45 and arrived at the airport shortly before six. It was a smooth ride, with lots of stops for pick-ups and a requisite amount of time plunging through Rome traffic after the train station stop at Tiburtina. But, we made it and we were delighted to hit our rooms at the Rome Airport Hilton. It felt like "home". We use that hotel every time we travel to Italy. It's amazingly clean and comfortable and it allows us to catch a morning flight without stress. Barbara and I walked back across the elevated walkway, to the terminal, for dinner rather than the hotel restaurant. I'm sure the hotel food was a bit more elegant but we weren't buying it at 18 euros for a simple bowl of pasta.
Smooth flight home. Thank God, no turbulence in either direction. I am an extremely relaxed air traveler but I don't care for the lack of control when the plane starts jumping around. Nope. Empty seats allowed me to move around like a nomad so my restlessness was quelled and the long distance between me and my husband who I knew would be awaiting my arrival at the airport, felt shorter.
I oftentimes feel the pains of re-entry. I anticipated a very hard time, after five weeks away. I can honestly say that, other than dropping off the Earth by seven o'clock, I have been rather delighted at being home. I will certainly pen a long post about all the things I remember, all that I accomplished both mentally and spiritually while away, but I came home to loving arms and to words of welcome from friends who tell me that I was genuinely missed. I came home to the mundane activities of my life and to the more challenging parts of my life, but I came home and I know my place and I am grateful and humbled by having that place. I am stronger and more confident than ever. Like a pot of early spring flowers that are put out every morning and taken back in each night until they are ready to remain out, I have been hardened. No, I have not become "hard". If anything, I have softened in the way I see my world, thanks to the love and support of my friends in Italy and my friends here, at home. I'm simply more ready, better equipped for my future after a respite from my real world. I took pieces home with me from a life that allowed me to slow down and to notice that in doing so, things did get accomplished and that most things can, and will wait and that there IS a master plan to all of our lives. I'm just not ready to spill it all out. I'm keeping a lot of it in my own head and heart for the time-being. I know what I know and it's great stuff and.......I'm not changing my story.
I've got a few more weeks until this big birthday party is over.
Allow me to pick up where I left off. I'm great at recollection when I write early in the day.
Our departure from Assisi came on a brilliantly blue-skied day last Thursday. A last-minute visit with my friend Josie from whom I bought the most-elegant silk scarf for my mother-in-law and from whom I was gifted an equally elegant silk poncho which she made me promise I would show everyone and help her to promote her business. I will gladly do that but worry that most people will simply think it is pretty, hear the price, and drop it at there. Italian silk is expensive as a raw material and with her artwork gracing each piece, the price is high. We have a problem with that, living here in the land of abundance. We have too many choices. We live the disposable life and are reluctant to plunk down a couple of hundred dollars on anything that we can pay less for at a designer discount store. But I will try. I made a promise.
The Sulga bus goes from Assisi to the Rome Airport.......eventually. We departed at 1:45 and arrived at the airport shortly before six. It was a smooth ride, with lots of stops for pick-ups and a requisite amount of time plunging through Rome traffic after the train station stop at Tiburtina. But, we made it and we were delighted to hit our rooms at the Rome Airport Hilton. It felt like "home". We use that hotel every time we travel to Italy. It's amazingly clean and comfortable and it allows us to catch a morning flight without stress. Barbara and I walked back across the elevated walkway, to the terminal, for dinner rather than the hotel restaurant. I'm sure the hotel food was a bit more elegant but we weren't buying it at 18 euros for a simple bowl of pasta.
Smooth flight home. Thank God, no turbulence in either direction. I am an extremely relaxed air traveler but I don't care for the lack of control when the plane starts jumping around. Nope. Empty seats allowed me to move around like a nomad so my restlessness was quelled and the long distance between me and my husband who I knew would be awaiting my arrival at the airport, felt shorter.
I oftentimes feel the pains of re-entry. I anticipated a very hard time, after five weeks away. I can honestly say that, other than dropping off the Earth by seven o'clock, I have been rather delighted at being home. I will certainly pen a long post about all the things I remember, all that I accomplished both mentally and spiritually while away, but I came home to loving arms and to words of welcome from friends who tell me that I was genuinely missed. I came home to the mundane activities of my life and to the more challenging parts of my life, but I came home and I know my place and I am grateful and humbled by having that place. I am stronger and more confident than ever. Like a pot of early spring flowers that are put out every morning and taken back in each night until they are ready to remain out, I have been hardened. No, I have not become "hard". If anything, I have softened in the way I see my world, thanks to the love and support of my friends in Italy and my friends here, at home. I'm simply more ready, better equipped for my future after a respite from my real world. I took pieces home with me from a life that allowed me to slow down and to notice that in doing so, things did get accomplished and that most things can, and will wait and that there IS a master plan to all of our lives. I'm just not ready to spill it all out. I'm keeping a lot of it in my own head and heart for the time-being. I know what I know and it's great stuff and.......I'm not changing my story.
I've got a few more weeks until this big birthday party is over.
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