“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” – Henry David Thoreau
I arrived in Florence yesterday afternoon around 4:30 pm. It was another hour before I was settled into my hotel. I counted the days until I leave and caught myself thinking “today’s almost gone, so already my 7 remaining days is really 6!” I immediately reminded myself this vacation isn’t about doing everything, but also about doing nothing. Even better, as a cherished friend and life coach reminded me, it’s about just “being.” The Italians call it Il Dolce Far Niente -the Sweetness of Doing Nothing.
We are so busy trying to accomplish something, to mark things off a list, to get it all in, that we forget there is so much more to life. It goes by too quickly, especially as we get older. I’ve learned over the years that not cramming so much into a day, a weekend, or in this case a vacation, it seems to last longer. Maybe we can incorporate that into each of our days…or lives. Wouldn’t it be great if we could take a page out of the Italians’ book who close their shops at noon, go home, spend a few hours eating lunch with family, go back to work around 3 pm, work a few hours, then go home for the evening? I didn’t see it as much in the touristy areas but step into the side streets and residential areas and it’s very common.
Back to my day… I’ve spent the entire day being in the moment in everything I did. It gave me the freedom to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of this ancient city; the woman weaving and arranging dried flowers into beautiful arrangements at the Mercato di Santo Spirito (market), the deep, resonating ringing of the church bells, and definitely the smell of Italian food.
I am finding it difficult to choose where to eat because everything, everywhere looks great. There are too many restaurants to choose from, so sometimes it’s just about stopping and trying it. I prefer the restaurants with outside dining so I can sit, eat and watch the tourists scurrying from site to site, then stopping to take selfies before scurrying on to the next stop. The locals don’t seem to pay any attention and move in and out of the crowds seamlessly.
Follow up to the above post
I’d almost forgotten I’d started this post, as the following day I noticed what I thought was a mosquito or spider bite on my stomach. I went to the Farmacia and got what I thought might help, but it worsened with each day until I returned home 5 days later. I went to a minor emergency clinic on Sunday, then on Tuesday, I went to the ER at the insistence of my primary care physician. I was admitted to the hospital and stayed for a week, received two weeks of out-patient daily IV antibiotic infusions at the hospital and followed that up with 2 weeks of oral antibiotics.
It was a bacterial infection caused by the mosquito bite. They call them Zanzara in Italian and they can be brutal. It caused a serious infection in my abdominal wall including cellulitis and sepsis.
Although I didn’t feel my best, I refused to let it get the best of me and continued to enjoy the rest of the trip. The trip was in no way ruined by it and it will not dissuade me from going back. I’m already planning trip number three!
The time at home with my sister from Oklahoma to help me for the first 2 weeks, definitely gave me many hours of doing nothing. We watched movies, talked, and just hung out. There were a few trips to Target, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby to get me out of the house and walking to get my strength back…at least that’s what my sister and I are calling it! It was a wonderful time of just being.