Wednesday, December 9, 2009

I dreamed a dream

I always dreamed of going to Florence one day. I went. And now I'm home. Gosh, it's hard to come back to real life. (The kind of real life with responsibility, meals, cleaning, mundane phone calls, and whining kids.)

In the middle of several amazing days, I had one extraordinarily perfect day in the Cinque Terre of Italy. The picture from last week shows the town of Vernazza, and it is even more lovely in real life. As we hiked out of Vernazza, I turned to look back at the view just as the afternoon church bells began to ring. I stood in the sun, looking out at a breaktakingly beautfiful place, listening to the bells and I started to cry because it was all so perfect and wonderful and it seemed like too much beauty and happiness for one small moment.

It reminded me of a favorite poem by Billy Collins called "This Much I do Remember"--I will always carry in my pocket the small coin of that moment.

5 comments:

Melinda said...

Welcome back! I am excited to see pictures and to hear of your adventures!!!

Amy T said...

Awesome! I hope you can go to that beautiful place in your mind whenever you need it most! (possibly everyday for awhile)

Carrie said...

Sounds perfect really. How exciting to have lived out a dream! I hope you post some pics of your Italian escape. So cool that you were just in Italy!

Mary Anne said...

Ah the minted moment. That poem is definitely one of my all time favorites. Glad your trip was so lovely. Good luck with adjusting to everyday life. Our family is having some issues with that these days. Well maybe just Samuel, or mostly Samuel. Anyway. . .

Krista said...

Oh, it sounds so wonderful! I'm glad you had a beautiful time. I want to hear more and more about your trip!