Backing up a bit, here are some journal excerpts from March 18, 2012, in Burien, WA, as I reflected on my then-imminent trip to Milan:
“I am now just under 8 weeks away from heading back to Italy. At the 10-week mark I felt ‘the shift.’ I am now straddling the globe, neither fully here nor fully there. I’ve notched up my energy and efforts, my focus, all in preparation for being away from here and returning to a life – my life – there. (When I returned at the end of June last year, I really ‘came back’, emotionally and psychologically. But the shift was palpable 2 weeks ago.)
“So I’m consumed with both preparations and completions, and this state is isolating. No one in my life has such a life pattern or makes such choices.
“From where I sit here in my living room, I look out to only tall firs, Puget Sound, Vashon Island, my bright green yard and rain drops hanging suspended from the Japanese maple. The Olympics are hidden by an early-Spring, leaden sky, but would otherwise define my horizon.
“In two months I will be on the third floor of a city apartment, just off the freeway exit, looking out to my neighbors’ balconies and the courtyard with the garbage bins. The sound of traffic will be ever-present and its grit will filter into my living space.
“The contrast between the two places is absolute. I dearly love my home and its location here. But spending city time in Milan brings something entirely different to my days and my experience. Living in Italy requires that I live closer to ‘the edge’ and that is good (though exhausting over time). It both develops and draws on my inner resources, forcing me to stretch. In the midst of and because of this, I feel exquisitely alive when in Italy.
“I sincerely attempt to have that sense of aliveness while here in Seattle (Burien) but am aware of how different it is. It’s a deeper, calmer sense here.
“I look forward to returning to Milan, to seeing now-dear friends and being back in my neighborhood. I like the life of being on foot, bike, subway or train for all my travels. Thought it is limiting, it is also quite freeing. I don’t mind walking 2 miles for a good loaf of bread, and absolutely swoon over riding my bike into the farmland for fresh ricotta.
“Truthfully, my life in Milan is not the typical Milanese life. They are not all going ‘Tra La La’ as they ride out for fresh cheese! But neither is my life typically American. OK. I seem to make it work and it is envied by many. But this choice excludes other choices I could make; they don’t see what I give up to have this.”
May 14, 2012 – Departure from Seattle, through London, to Milano.
Seatac Airport: One of the public art, tiled columns as I head toward the S Gates at the South Satellite. (With On-the-move smartphone blur.)
Awaiting departure from London to Milano.
"Welcome to Milano", the sign says as I briskly leave the plane and head out of the airport, Milano Malpensa.
Could this greeting be any more perfect as I was leaving the airport, heading for the train into Milano?!