When you live in a foreign land, sometimes you forget that life you left behind...the one where you would chat with every passerby without a care. By this I mean that when you have to concentrate on every word that comes out of your mouth, sometimes you find you do not make the effort you should, although I feel this is a wrong way to think. That is why when my lovely friend Suzanne and her adorable husband and even more adorable boys, age 4 and 1, decided to travel the two hours to pay us a visit a couple of weeks ago, I was in heaven. She and her family have been living in Tuscany for 5 years now...both her boys were born here. We carried on and on for hours...of course not only because it was our native language, but because Suzanne is such a like minded person to me. I did not know how much I could miss and appreciate hours of fun about art projects, living in Italy, changes in the US, missing "southern" things (she, too, is originally from Georgia...how cool is that?) We lingered over meals, sipped wine, had a great time dreaming up stories of wild boar, cinghiale, gazing at planets and the moon, and scavenging for found objects to make art when they returned home. I was reminded of this and of little 4 year old Kai this morning on my walk when I found a slice of ceramic lying on the dirt road. My thoughts immediately returned to my amazement of his wonder and imagination...then the most beautiful color orange in a rusted chain caught my eye. I wanted to know, what would he make with these? With my eyes now open and with him in mind, I cannot wait to see what other goodies I might find along my way. Isn't it the smallest things in life that open up the largest things within us?Please visit Suzanne's little glimpse at her world in Italy at Sperlygirl, you will be happy you did.
