Everything Happens

The pessimist reasons that things just happen, where the optimists believe that things happen for a reason.
~Anthony Liccione

For over a month, I’ve been trying to figure out how to start this post. There are a number of ways, and each one would lead me to the same place, a suprise that I didn’t see coming two months ago when I left the States for Italy. The problem is that I don’t want to give too much away at the beginning, so I want to temper how I lead up to it.

Confused? Welcome to the club.

The Back Story

If you know or follow me, you know that I am passionate about showing people the real Italy, the places beyond Rome, Florence, and Venice. It’s not that those three cities are not Italy, and it’s not that people should not see them. It comes down to the fact that normal Italian life is not like what one finds in Rome, Florence, and Venice. Compare it to life in the USA and how we all do not live in New York, Las Vegas, or Los Angeles.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve accompanied more than 130 people to Italy, and while I’ve shown them Rome, Florence, and Venice, I’ve also shown them places you probably have not heard of—Garfagnana, Dozza, Sulmona, Certaldo, Peccioli, Maccagno, Pettorano sul Gizio… I could go on and on. If you ask them, I think they would all say that their favorite places have been those little towns where culture, art, cuisine, and history live along with residents today.

After seeing my posts, photos, and articles, many of my friends have asked me to take them, and I gladly have. So it was with a good friend from high school whose daughter wanted to surprise Mom with a trip to Italy this spring.

The Trip

Knowing that the trip was a surprise from the daughter to my friend, I did not say anything. I worked with the daughter and her friend to figure out what the group of five wanted to do on the trip, and we made a plan. Because they were on a short trip, we could only see the highlights, so they were to start in Venice, spend a few days in Bologna, and end in Rome. April is a great time to visit those three cities as they are not yet unbearably hot nor crowded.

Once my friend found out what her daughter planned, we discussed the trip. She was excited to visit some of my favorite places. I gave her a journal so she could record her experiences. The week before Mike and I left the States in February, we had lunch with my friend and her husband, and we discussed how excited she was. I was so excited to be able to show another good friend the land that I love.

Can We Talk?

About a month after Mike and I started our sojourn in Lucca, my friend texted and asked if we could talk. As you would expect, I figured she had something serious to tell me, but nothing prepared me for it. To protect her privacy, I won’t go into a lot of detail, but suffice to say that she had a major medical issue that required surgery….major surgery….the kind that requires a lot of recovery time. In addition, one of the other gals in the group had to also have major surgery around the same time.

My friend was concerned that I would be upset that they had to postpone their April trip. “Good grief,” I exclaimed. “I’m not upset at all. I’m very worried about you.” She had told me her surgery was about three weeks away. “Why are they letting you wait so long for the surgery?” Tests and such had to come first, of course. It still bothered me that they were making her wait. “Just take care of yourself. Do not think about this. Once you heal, we can talk Italy, again.”

The Cancellations

I was able to cancel all of the hotel and activities without a problem, so I was not stressed at all. What the postponing of their trip meant, though, was that I would have to figure out what to do during the time they were supposed to be in Italy. Mike’s return to the US was set for April 23, and I thought maybe he could stay longer. Switching to a different flight at a later date would cost more than $1000, so we decided he’d just go home when scheduled, and I would do, well, something.

I had originally planned to go to Assisi for a few days before my friend’s group arrived. Assisi has a calming effect on me. If you have ever been there, you know what I mean. The spirit of St. Francis lays over the town like an invisible fog bringing a sense of peace and tranquility to everyone. I had figured I could use a few days to write, so when I was planning everything originally, I gave myself a few days in Assisi.

Luckily, the hotel I had originally booked was able to change my reservation to new dates. That still left me with roughly two weeks to fill. Because the group I have coming in May is starting in Bologna, I wanted to end there before they arrived. To make a long story short, my friends in Bologna and Sulmona helped me out, and my life was once again in order.