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weathering the
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The past week has been one where, when I left America, the gate agent questioned why I only had a one-way ticket, and I was able to provide a very proper and viable answer. As it turns out, I could also produce an onward e-ticket, to Italy, but was not necessary. The airline is the first barrier in case I was trying to escape somewhere, and they need to make sure, I am not simply staying and becoming part of the system, or at least not becoming part of the system illegally. In either case, I am not and was able to pass through, fly across the pond and get into Britain, where I am currently.
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 “Leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again….”. Thank you, Peter, Paul and Mary, at least the version I knew, but written by John Denver. I was inundated with folk music. This is before I embraced Rock & Roll even to this day, on AM and FM radio, as a teenager, some 50 years ago now. Yes, it is a goodbye song. For me, yes, saying goodbye to America as home, but I am still connected, and most importantly, Io sono molto felice!!! It is true and it is so near to the departure date, and more importantly, the arrival date, I can taste it. Leaving on a jet plane and for a different reason, one with joy and happiness. As I write this, my impending departure from New Hampshire this morning, the next step of my journey, with a couple of detours enroute, New Jersey first, and then the UK, it is here. The last steppingstones to being in Italy with my wife and becoming an Italian permanent resident and who knows what else in years to come, but one step at a time. What was a thought of becoming an ex-pat, years and years ago, even before meeting Rosa, is coming to fruition. It was something on my mind to go back to the old country, years and years ago, but to one of the countries of my ancestry, be it Poland or perhaps Hungary, but Italy was never on the radar. When these thoughts were on my mind, I was in a totally different place, and one that was not so good, perhaps looking for a place to escape.
I have gotten to the point where the focus is making sure my clients are ready for their trips, which gives continuity, as I really, except for some paperwork, errands to run, am to the point where all I do next week is take everything packed put into the vehicle and the U-Haul trailer, which happens next Wednesday. On Tuesday, moving what is in my hovel, into the vehicle itself and distributing it accordingly for the right balance and making the drive south to the port for storage in the short term. It will happen and I will get there. I don’t want to load down the vehicle yet, as I still have places to be and things to be done, but essentially, this is the routine, and has been the routine over the past week, and will be this week, as well. I know this is not really an interesting topic and I was trying to find something to share besides routine, but maybe, sharing routine is good, as we all have them.
While I have done packing and unpacking before, it was for a holiday, a business trip, a move across town or across the country and when I mentioned, I moved from country to country, really, it was half a century ago and that was a yearlong stint in France with the “family”, a subject for another time. But the duration was significant, but there was a return attached to that back stateside. This packing and when I arrive on the 4th of July in Rome and unpack, the intent is not to return to the states unless there is a viable reason. You know I have made some of the rounds to places like Dallas and Birmingham on my arrivederci and saying ciao ciao to people I know. I have called old friends, people even closer than “family” and had long re-connecting conversations and plan to do more until I fly later next week to Europe. The nice thing is that once there, the calling will not really change. If I have Wi-Fi calling and I will, the phone number stays the same, only time difference is in play and the cost, so much less, sorry Verizon. Yes, after 25 years, I disconnected from Verizon.
I know people who have felt homesick being away from “home” for a long time. Even Rosa, after 6 weeks here from the time she arrived, through our wedding and tying up legal loose ends a few months ago, felt homesick or when I came to New Hampshire to housesit and when my brother and came back early, they complained about their life in Germany. I know there were reasons, but I could tell that my nieces and nephew were homesick from the messages sent. It does take getting used to and understandable. For me, however, I am going home and since I have spent much of my life on the road, and much of it, in Europe, it is simply returning home and settling in. Will I miss things here in the states, possibly, but that is to be seen? I don’t think, like some others who have previously become ex-pats, I will have the culture shock that does come upon others. I have had 3 summers and other stretches of time living in Rome. I have gotten used to or tried to get used to the ways of the old world, sometimes successfully and sometimes with a bit of frustration. As you know, what does not kill you, makes you stronger and I feel stronger. For the record, bureaucratic red tape, and outsourcing, here in the states, and other ways to make life more challenging is good training for returning to a slower way of life.
The reality was very different, and the best of my friends and colleagues knew differently, as hard to hide, as I am one to show my emotions on my shoulder. It was no different than it is now and musings in these posts show that over the years I have been writing them; where I want to be, will be and know that this impending move is the right thing. I say what is on my mind, and sometimes without filters, which sometimes are interpreted the wrong way. It has been hard these past few months, since I had to part ways from Rosa, but this has been necessary, so we could sort through the details on both sides of the pond and tie up the loose ends. Our coming together again only a few short weeks away gives me true happiness and she has since I met her. When this most amazing lady came into my life 4 years and a bit short of 4 months ago, my life had changed forever and for the better, with a balance I had never experienced in my life and something throughout my life, I never really had. Yes, that may sound strange and yes, I have lived many places, in Minnesota, New York and now New Hampshire and even a year in France, a half century ago, but no where I lived has ever been home, and settling down, until now, with a truly beautiful loving lady who captured my heart the first time I met her and showed me it is okay to love and be loved and brought a passion to life that I had lost long ago before meeting her.  |
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March 2025
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