HOW DO YOU GET YOUR GLOW?

He, the strange little man who runs Borgo Villa Castelletti outside Florence, came up and greeted the gomorros in the breakfast room. Mary? He asked uncertainly. I did not recognize you! You have a new look! You look different. How nice you are, he said embarrassedly and went back to his desk.

And I pondered. What is going on? What is it in my presence that has changed? I haven't changed my "look". I wear the same clothes, my linen shirts and my denim shorts and my hair is just as messy. I snuggled up with my cappuccino and figured it out. I am completely happy again. I am close to laughter and the broken heart is mended and well taken care of. 

I rolled into Borgo for the first time just over two years ago with my large motorhome filled with my husband and dogs. Life on a stick it might seem. But the trip that would be so wonderful and mischievous in my beloved Italy was mostly just a struggle. I longed far away and had given my last fifty to stay and the husband at the time who was used to big fat mexite brick houses and well cut lawns in the finhood was too tight a suit for my RV and Italy adventures. He was unhappy and clearly embarrassed to even be on an RV vacation and I was the complete opposite. Of course it crashed. We were both relieved when one daughter called and said that her back was to be operated urgently. As you do as a parent, you throw yourself in the car and drive home. We stretched all the way. There we put an end to our marriage, which still hasn't worked for over two years. One believes and hopes that everything will get better. But there were too many truths in the white eye during the trip, which was our last.

Enjoying your own company. To have found your way and to stick to it even if it is round and bumpy and sometimes uncomfortable. Then it shows. And as the weird hotel manager said, you're different. And yes, I think. That's me. I am different. I am happy again. It took time. But no one but you is responsible for your happiness. Also, happiness is not a constant state. But the foundation must be hopeful, and you shall not live carelessly; with the wrong relationship, the wrong job, in the wrong place.

Italy with extra everything, my job, my places on earth and my people close to me in Sweden brings out my best self. 

What brings out your "glow"?

Amore m.