Traffic

One good thing about traffic in Rome, especially on the way back home from dropping the kids at camp, is that you can kind of focus on your thoughts about life, with the windows and car doors nicely locked, and the air condition going on steady, while the temperature outside reaches 30 degrees at 10:00 a.m. n the morning.  In fact reflection is probably one of the few activities that can keep you sane in the madness of the driving tasks at hand.

Besides the fact that there are practically no lanes white lines on the ground to tell you where you belong, and even if there were you would still find yourself bottled up in between at least four other cars on your same row, moving is a task you get to do on the tip of your tongue, and while reflecting is a possibility, your brain quickly learns to remain solidly attentive to what is happening around you. Which is probably a good lesson for life in general.  Remain introspective as much as possible but do not loose contact with reality and what is happening around you.

Vacations in Italy, and especially in Rome, back to my hometown, have this effect on me.  Work and pleasure reading together with routine trips to my kids’ summer camp give everything a different flavour, and life takes on a different shade of blue. A happy blue that is!

I call old friends – almost everyone said hi to date, and we will meet once or twice before this break is over. No intrusions or forcing my presence on anyone – some old traditions established a few years back remain intact, and the nice pizza outings will happen soon, and we will enjoy talking and comparing cultures and lifestyles as we always do every two years.  I really love this appointment with my old self: it regenerates old corners of my being that I often loose or cannot express in Canada. But the answer to the same old question if I ever considered coming back to live in Rome remains the same: no. I am happy with my choices, and I honestly cannot recall one single regret. Which I guess is a happy space to be, right?

Did I mention I am reading the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin?  Cool read, I highly recommend it!

All for now.