"The universe will lead you to where you need to be"

The musician Ben Lee said this to Jodi when she met him at a concert a few summers ago, and the quote has always been one that we've carried with us throughout our serendipitous experiences. Even in moments of doubt or loneliness, I still believe that there is purpose and meaning in the steps that we take, the people we meet, and the situations we land ourselves in. And believing in our purpose, be it known or unknown, gives hope that in fact, we are heading in the right direction...this is the direction of my life (and yours) and there's simply no other direction or way that it could ever be traveled.

I got to talking with an Italian the other night who said to me that only after the passage of time, a few years or so, can people know if their decisions were "right" or "good" or not. While I know there's some truth to this, it's just never been my way of thinking. In Rome this weekend I was anxious to part from the endless guided tours and find a piazza with a fountain and a cafe where I could sketch or journal and sip red wine. So I hopped on the bus having almost no clue what I was doing (which almost always excites me, even in foriegn cities where I barely speak the language... HA!), and got off where I thought would be the closest stop to Piazza Navona (needless to say, I was wrong :). So, after trekking the city by foot for over an hour, I gave in and settled for a really cute cafe on a street corner where I was the only American in the room. This is what I wrote:

It's a difficult concept to swallow--imagining that you possibly could have made a better life-altering decision that in theory, could have led you to a better, happier, more perfect place. BUT, I know that if we continue to listen to our deepest voices of truth and passion, when we do not ignore or neglect our intuition, then there is no "right" or "wrong", only the way it has to be; only the reality of being human and trying our best; only the humility of accepting imperfections and embracing that scary possibility that some other way could have felt better. And yes, I am too small to know which way or how. But as I breathe in a small breath and take in this small moment of sitting alone with my wine and journal in an anonymous Roman cafe, I'm okay with being too small to know. This life is more than enough. And I know I am exactly where I need to be. Right here, right now.

Allura, I hope today you can find the space to accept the sometimes-daunting truth that your life is magical just the way it is, your steps are in the only direction possible, and they're leading you to exactly where you need to be. I know I'm in Italy, so of course, it should be easy (and in so many ways it IS easy), but there are challenges and struggles and decisions I've had to make, maturations I've had to grow into, a better person I've had to become--and all I can do is follow my gut and trust my instincts that this life in still on-going, and no decision is ever static. With that, I know that not only can I continue moving forward, but in fact, that is the only thing for me to do.


And I'll leave you with a little peak into some of the magical places the universe has led me of late:
1. BeBop open mic 2 hours too early for the open mic, but just on time for the owner's birthday party. Mi casa e tu casa in Italia, so they stuffed me like a Thanksgiving turkey and basted me with all the wine in the world. Non importanta io parlo Italiano un po, perche loro conoscono io voglio parlare Italiano! Allura, proviamo insieme. (Not important that I only speak a little Italian, because they know that I want to speak Italian!...So together we try.) Then I listened to some of the most incredible voices I've heard live in a long time, and found the balls to get up and sing 2 of my own tunes (1 that I wrote here!) and a Joni cover all acapella.
2. With Devra on the weekend of my birthday: the top of a great hill with a castle in Assisi just as the sun was setting behind the georgous Italian Alps. (Also located here, the nicest port-a-pottie I have ever seen or used!) All thanks to missing the school-organized trip that would have had us in and out of Assisi before lunch!
3. The blissful Borghesi Gardens a Roma after a hectic and exhausting 3 days of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. There were trees and grass and fountains beyond belief!--one thing I terribly long for in the cobblestoned Baroque city of Firenze.
4. And again! Bliss through olive & cyprus trees and ancient palaces in the Villa Adriana an hour outside of Rome. The best way ever to recompose and recoup after Rome...

5. But nothing could compare to the Tivoli Gardens, which has to be one of the most peaceful and beautiful man-made places I have ever been to.




All my love and trust to you on this sunny Tuesday in Florence. A presto, amori...

Pictures Speak Louder than Words

If I weren't overwhelmed with so many fun and incredible things to do, I'd probably be updating this blog a lot more often... Allura (SO), here I present you a small photo-slide show of my favorite moments in the past weeks:


Sara, Devra (roommate), and Kate playing dress-up/photo-shoot in Devra's silk dresses


cute booties (Melissa, Carolina, Sasha, and Anna) in the beautiful town of Viareggio


Me, Anna at a pizzeria in Venice before going out for Carnival festivities


A shadow of the Duomo over Florence after climbing it's 400 stairs


Tomorrow morning I leave for ROMA... hopefully by then my laundry (that includes all of my socks and underwear...) will be dry so I don't have to go comando to the previous empire of the world. Meh, but, "when in Rome..." ;)

Ciao ciao!
Rach

A Room with a View

Here I sit on my bed in Florence, morning sun shining through my open shutters, and Brunelleschi's world-famous Duomo towering before the light. That's right, she stares at me in the morning and watches me undress at night. What a life. I love it. I've been reading people's thoughts on Firenze and there are so many warnings to avoid la Piazza del Duomo, known for the thousands of tourists who pass through every day. But I have an advantage over the herds of Asians, Americans, Italian school kids, Immigrant street vendors, and Gypsy thefts--a literal advantage over the whole buzzing scene as I sit at my window with a smirk on my face. I can't help but chuckle at the dumbfoundedness and mayhem. I could take pictures for hours on end of tourist faces and pseudo-photographer body positions as they try desperately to capture the entire magnitude of il Duomo in one dinky shot. (Good luck!) Or the way the gypsies know exactly who to ask (or who not to ask=§) for a little extra spare change. And of course, how a man and a woman can't even talk without a 2€ rose thrown in their faces and a tricky situation as he tries to say no without offending the woman.

But nevertheless, despite these quarks and potential annoyances, it would kill me to tell someone, "Avoid this piazza if you visit Florence". If not for the architectural genius that draws so many to its doorsteps each day, one MUST visit this piazza--at least for witnessing these clusters of life, these exchanges of oppotunity, that make up the huge cultural element of Florence known as tourism.

I love my location right in the heart of this ancient city where hardly any walk home poses a serious threat. I'm no more than 3 minutes from all the best bars, clubs, and music venues in Florence, and the streets by the Duomo are some of the best lit in town. Is this really my front yard for the next 3 months? Yes. Yes it is. Somebody pinch me!

All my love and wishing you grand adventures wherever you might be these days...
Pace,
Rach

(and my view in the other direction)