“Be in love with your life. Every detail of it. ”
- Jack Kerouac
I have been traveling through Italy this past week, and I have gloriously lost all track of time. What a delightful feeling this is, to not be beholden to the turning hours, only aware of when the sun comes up and sets all too quickly at dusk into a thick black night sky.
After a day of recalibrating from the change in hours, the body easily adjusts and falls back into its natural circadian rhythm.
What a luxury it is to step away from the familiar, to make time to be in a place that never fails to inspire and restore this overworked body and soul. I've traded concrete city buildings for miles of masseria farm land and endless rows of hundred year old olive trees and backyard citrus trees. On an unseasonably cold day, we decide to stay inside. A double rainbow appears across the field as droplets of rain tip tap on the window and a fire crackles in the background, stoked with logs from pruned trees. Other days, there's walks through eleventh century monasteries, browsing through small town antique markets, dinner with new friends around the table, pulling samples from a ceramic factory, and afternoon apertivi in the centro storico sidewalk cafe.
As I pack up my market treasures in an extra empty suitcase, I contemplate my re-entry back home. What else will I bring back with me? A remembrance of why I love this culture so much. A hospitality that is born of generational generosity, a way of living that begins and ends at the table. Daily rituals rooted in not rushing, but in savoring a simple but sophisticated life.
None of these gifts I ever take granted, and treasures that I hope to share with you.
X Alisa