Strolling
January 26, 2025
I woke up to church bells chiming at 9 o’clock. It was bright outside my window, but pulling aside my sheer blinds revealed a gray sky.
I’d had such a strange dream the night before! I was walking along, and I knew I was in a dream, and the moment I realized it, my conscious came out of my body and looked at me through the eyes of someone else! And it was so strange! I saw myself through someone else’s eyes. And I didn’t look how I look when I look in the mirror; I didn’t see tired eyes or dull skin or poor posture; I looked cute, and approachable, and joyful, and kind. I spent the morning deep in thought over it. What an odd thing, to see yourself through someone else’s uncritical eye. As I headed out to run my errands for the day, rather than curving my shoulders inward and looking down at the street, I held my head high and strode along.
I found a few coins in my coat pocket that I had taken out to pay for my aperitivo the night before, but a half-French-half-Italian-fully-fluent-in-English man had been chatting with my friends and I and ended up buying all our drinks, so this morning I had change to spare! I headed into my favorite café in town and ordered a cappuccino, then took a seat and pulled out the daily NYT mini crossword while I waited. The waitress approached me with my coffee just as I was starting Sudoku.
“Sei Italiano?” she asked. I must be getting better at speaking Italian!
“No, no. Sono Americana! Io parlo un po italiano ma troppo mal.”
“Ah! Sei uno studente?”
“Si! Studio a Cattolica”
We continued chatting for a minute before she headed back to work. I sipped my drink and looked around the room. The reason this is my favorite coffeeshop is the a large backroom: half of it is full of tables where old men sit around talking about grumpy-old-man things, and the other half is full of old women (presumably their wives, but who’s to say) gossiping. I observed them for a moment, then I pulled out my kindle and read a couple chapters. The waitress and I exchanged smiles as I went on my way a half-hour later. I think I made a new friend!
I wandered across town to a Tabacchi where I paid my tuition and had some documents printed (yes, tobacco shops here are insanely multi-functional). The sweet lady there knows me at this point, because living in another country requires getting many documents copied at various times. She calls me by name and pronounces it correctly, and she hasn’t stolen my identity yet when she definitely could, so I am quite fond of her! There was one document I needed printed on photo paper, so she directed me down the street to a different shop. I went and got it all worked out, but had used all my coins on my morning cappuccino, so when I asked to pay with card the man at the counter switched from Italian to English (which he claimed to not be able to speak) and said, “Seriously? No. You have to have coins somewhere in that bag.” I didn’t. I asked if I could come back in twenty minutes with coins and he waved me off. I did the quickest grocery store run of my life to break a large bill and speed-walked to make it back to the guy before his shop closed for afternoon nap-time.
In the afternoon the sky turned from gray to blue, so I laced up my shoes and went on a walk. I stopped at the best gelateria in town and got a cone before heading to the passeggio for a walk. Something I love about Italians: they love an afternoon walk with the fam. The trail was packed. Young married couples held hands as their kids marched or skipped or ran laps a round them. Old married couples walked arm in arm or ten feet apart with the man leading, depending on the couple. Two nonnas in fur coats linked arms as they strolled, while two twenty-year-old girls walked briskly and talked with their hands. An old guy cruised by on a bike and cracked open a beer as he passed me. Boys my age ran swiftly by or sat on benches reading books. And I walked along enjoying my gelato!
Evening came and slipped away with tea and wine and cheese and cookies and conversations with friends. I love a good stroll, but around the table with people I love is my favorite place to be.
I love having my nose in a book (a little bit too much I think—I read four this week), but days like this remind me real life is better than book life, and we should live in the moment and be present. Thank God for walks and community!! It feels so sweet to settle back into this temporary home of mine!
PS!!
To all my readers — thank you for being here :)
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Cheers!
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