IF I CAN SO CAN YOU

I sit and pay Italian bills. The electricity bill, a new energy declaration, internet - yes, the same bills as in Sweden but in euros instead and all text in Italian. A language that speaks to my blood-red heart. Paying bills has never been more enjoyable. Because what I pay for is my Italian life. My dream that I realized. I tried 6-7 years ago, but then it didn't work. There is so much to be said. First of all you have to find the place and then you have to find the home. And… the most important thing – you have to find the context – what are you going to do there? How are you going to live?

Then, just over six years ago, I found the place, Imperia Porto Mauricio, a wonderfully beautiful little town. Like a postcard. Like from a movie. But something was rubbing. A little too cold apartment, no view, no context, a cold and rainy spring and early summer. I hadn't finished the preliminary work and it cracked.

The dream of Italy is MY dream. But for you, the dream may look completely different. It doesn't really matter - big or small dream - what's important is to listen to yourself and believe in what you think. If you want to move to Italy, then you can do it. If you want to become a lawyer, then you can become one. If you want to sing full time, do it!

Making the dream come true is not about all of a sudden you get a bunch of opportunities for free. It's about working hard. To be able to walk that last mile when everyone else has given up. Toiling there in the dark when friends and family lie in their duvets and snort. You sit up and finish work, for your dream. It hurts, it's tiring, you're dead tired, you may fail one or more times. If you really want it, the day will come when you succeed. On October 14 last year I signed my first house in Italy. I got two pairs of keys in my hand and my heart was dancing. Every time I come there I am just as happy. When I drive down and then up the last hill. When I hear the tires on the gravel. When I park and then carry two insanely heavy grocery bags down the hill between the houses in the old town, my heart races, I laugh, talk out loud to myself and feel in love like I've never been before.

I felt exactly the same about my beloved Österlen. I came here by chance in 2002. My Norwegian ex-husband had a summer house in Svinaberga and he introduced me to his Österlen and his great love for the place where two of his children grew up. The rest is history. A few years later we built a large farm at Stenshuvud and I bought the guest house in the village. Reunion retreat. Then there was the Reunion hide away in Ingelstorp and Reunion & friends in the lavender blue villa villa hill in Gärsnäs. Do you remember? And then, as the crowning glory – Reuniongården in Hagestad. Here I have been able to do everything I dreamed of. I have boiled down all the fantastic experiences and experiences from my previous places in the last 20 years and created a magical meeting and trading place in the most beautiful place in Österlen - so close to the Sandhammer that the wind sometimes takes the fine white sand with it and lays it like a thin stock on our garden furniture.

When I eventually leave Österlen and hand Reunion Farm over to new, eager, warm hands - then I have realized my dream of Österlen several times over. I have been given the opportunity to create warm loving inspiring places where hundreds of thousands of friends and guests have sought and my memories of life in all these lovely villages are like a bank deposit box of unconditional love.

So you, don't believe everything that is written about recession and inflation and utility bills and other misery of misery. There is another side to the coin. The side of possibilities. Nothing can stop you from dreaming, thinking, enjoying and realizing. If the entrepreneur in me can speak his heart's content, times like these are the best to invest his energies and resources in. The light is right there and sometimes in our midst.

6 years ago I let go of the idea of ​​Italy for a little while to move in - all alone with my dog ​​- in a 780 square meter lavender blue house. I had a vision to create a creative loving meeting place in the middle of all the lavender blue. One would come there and rest, enjoy, laugh, marvel. You would eat the best sandwiches and I would bake everything from the heart. I bet every penny I had and I tattooed my vision under my skin. And with hindsight... the house was filled with you, you wonderful people who came once, many times, celebrated birthdays with me, some slept over in the middle of the interior decorations and in my lighting workshop the lamp of the pen was lit late into the night - I had orders from the Paris fair from all over the world and I was as happy as I had never been before.

So you, tomorrow, take a step closer to your dream – you can, you dare…. If I can, you can. I promise.

Warm hugs etc.