Scents

Isn't it funny how certain scents can transport you back in time to a treasured memory or place?

This morning I used a conditioner on my hair that I haven't used for many months. It also happens to be the conditioner that I keep in the little travel size containers when I travel. As soon as I smelled it, I was back in Positano, standing in the tiny shower in my villa. All those wonderful feelings of peace, contentment, and happiness washed over me.



Only 69 more days and I'll be there again.

Dreaming

While Tina is busy dreaming of Siena, I'm dreaming of Positano. I've gone back there four out of the past six nights. Three of the dreams have been pretty much the same, and they leave me feeling completely unsettled when I wake up.



It's my last night in Positano, when suddenly I realize I haven't done most of the things I wanted to do. I panic. I cry.


In one dream, I was talking to one of my friends who lives there, and I said, "I didn't get to..." (I can't remember what it was, but that doesn't matter). He said, "It's okay, we'll do that on Sunday." I cried, "No! We can't! I'm leaving tomorrow!!!!!" He looked at me, completely bewildered that I was so upset.


In another dream, it dawned on me that I hadn't spent any time with the friends who had traveled with me. We had all spent our time doing our own thing, and now it was too late to spend more than one day/night with each other. We wouldn't see each other again for a long year.


The details of the third dream are fuzzy, but it was the same concept - having to leave when I wasn't ready.


I can't quite picture being able to leave Positano and feel "ready" to leave. But I don't like the idea that there are so many things I want to experience there that they have invaded my subconscious mind.


Carole described it best a while back: "I feel as if I left things unfinished, in process, in suspense... "


I need to be there. I long for it.






People tell me, "Oh, you were just on vacation, that's why you're so happy there." NO. That's not it. There's so much more to it.


I'm progressing slowly on my new career. I need to step that up, so I can have more free time. Time to travel. To be where my soul needs to be...

Discovering Italy

I haven't always been in love with Italy.

There, I said it. I hate to admit it. I wish I could say that for as long as I can remember, I've wanted to go to Italy, but that's not true.

Until May 2005, Italy was only #5 on my list of European countries that I wanted to visit (behind England, France, Spain and Greece).

I have, however, always loved maps. When I was a child, my parents used to get National Geographic, and they would give me the maps that were included with each issue. I would spread the maps out on the floor and spend countless hours poring over them. My mom still remembers me doing this. Of course I loved the Italy map, because of the country being shaped like a boot, and well...even back then I loved shoes!

While unpacking some boxes recently (we moved over 3 years ago...I'm trying to finish unpacking!), I came across a stack of these old maps, and started looking at them. The Italy map was one of them, and it made me think of the countries that I used to long for, and how Italy was not at the top.

So how did I fall so completely head-over-heels in love with Italy? Well, to clarify, how did I fall in love with Positano? I've only been to the Naples/Sorrento/Amalfi Coast area, so I really shouldn't speak for the rest of the country, although I have no doubt I'll feel the same about it when I explore the rest of it.

Four friends of mine decided to go to Positano in 2004. Two of them live in Europe, two are from America, and all had been to Italy before. They casually invited me to go, and for some reason that I can't recall, I said no. After their trip, they told me all the details, and it sounded fun. A few months later, they were planning another trip for May 2005, and invited me again. All I could think was, "How can I pass up this opportunity?"

We flew into London, and spent a day there. It was everything I had dreamed of, but nowhere near enough time. I'll be back there someday, with my mom, as that's also her dream.

The next day we flew to Naples, where a car picked us up and drove us to Positano. From the moment I walked off the plane and saw the chaos of Naples to the time I stepped out of the car at Piazza Mulini, I was hopelessly in love.

But it was more than "love". I was home.

When it was time to leave, I cried. I've never cried before when leaving somewhere; I'm usually always excited to get to the next place. This was different. I felt panicked, like I needed to be there. I spent hours staring at the web cam (still do!). I've googled "Positano" more times than I care to admit.

I've been back twice, in June 2006 and June 2007. I have a trip planned for June 2008 (the villa is already booked!) But it's not enough. I want more!

If the job thing sorts itself out, I'm going there this fall. By myself. I have to be there. I feel so at peace and content and happy there.

Isn't that how you're supposed to feel when you go home?

Paradise...

I have just returned from my third annual trip to paradise…er…Positano. It gets harder to leave each time. I wish I could just pack up my belongings and move there. Yes, I know it’s not perfect, and reality would be different than I imagine – I read Nicki’s blog every day - but please allow me to live in my little fantasy world…

This year:

• I traveled with two of my best friends. One has been with me each time I’ve been to Positano, and the other experienced her first trip to Italy.

Said friends had never met each other before, and got along famously.

I finally met Nicki! Unfortunately, we were only able to chat twice for a few minutes each time, but we shall rectify that the next time I’m there.

I resolved an ongoing “issue” I had with one of the locals. We had a great time hanging out together after the issue was resolved, but now I miss this person terribly!

Strangely enough, I did not drink a great deal of wine, but what wine I did have was delicious...and from the Campania region.

I swam in the beautiful water of the Tyrrhenian Sea, spent entirely too much money in Sorrento, saw Amalfi for the first time, and took in the beauty of Capri for the second time.

I bought an unbelievable amount of candy. I'm not much of a candy eater, but the fact that it's Italian candy and I won't see it again for a year makes me go a little crazy!

I witnessed the annual Saint Vito festival for the second year in a row. I am constantly in awe of how Italians celebrate things...so very different than life in the states...

One morning I spent hours just wandering the streets of Positano by myself, and I felt more comfortable, more at peace, more at home than I have ever felt before. I felt like I was "home". I know some of you understand exactly what I mean.

Since I couldn't carry-on bottles of limoncello, due to the new safety rules, I packed several bottles very carefully. All of them survived the trip home.

I managed to hold back the tears until I was safely alone at home, locked in the bathroom so my husband wouldn't see.

Within 48 hours, I was planning next year's trip...