Humble Beginnings

Normal… What is the definition of normal? You get married, buy a home, and exist as a couple and the down the road you have a baby and live happily ever after until your time comes. How many of us really live our lives or do we just follow the script in life that has been written for us. Do people actually follow their dreams and their hearts or do we make a choice to walk away from them to be normal? I know the latter is the safer choice; however is it the choice that makes you most happy? What if you fall in love with another country? You can actually envision living there enjoying the simple pleasures in life that we so take for granted here in the USA.

As I sat at lunch one day I watched families, couples and friends piling in at noon time to one of Cortona’s best restaurants. Everyone was so genuinely happy to sit down, engage in conversation and indulge in the delicacies of the house. No phones, texting, or social media. They were here to enjoy food, family, and friends. They were here to live life. Even the children were beautiful and carefree, which resonated in their spirit. I couldn’t peel my eyes off of them. They were little Italian speaking angels. I quickly was brought back to the present when the elderly American couple sitting next to me was repulsed that the restaurant didn’t have a booster chair for a child and instead they were using pillows. This was the same couple that sat through their entire meal and said maybe 10 words to each other. Did they follow the script and this was the last scene in the movie?

So my question is do you follow your heart or your head? Is there a compromise, a happy medium perhaps? My mother always told me, “this life isn’t a dress rehearsal, it is the real show”. Another dear friend is quick to remind me, “You only have one life”. Why is life so different in this world? It wasn’t just that I was on holiday, everyone lived like this here. They take each day and embrace it with a true passion. Time seemed to creep on by in Italy as opposed to here when you look up and the day has flown by. As a culture we are so busy, busy doing this, that or the other. Life never seems to slow down and when it is all said and done is it possible we missed it?

So can you make this lifestyle come to you or do you have to go to it? Is it possible to take the beliefs from another culture and submerge them into yours when they are both so different? As my imagination started to run wild I began to wonder what life would be like here in Italy. Of course I would work, but could I live on less and enjoy more? As I returned to the states these thoughts constantly haunted me until one day I came up with a possible solution: I could take my skills set acquired over the past 20 years and apply them to create something so meaning full and beautiful in this land of splendor.