Gelato, Swollen Ankles and a Dream Come True

I used to think (most of my life) that I was the kind of girl who would always be on the outside looking in. Most of my childhood was filled with watching and coveting other families and their comfortable houses, new clothes and fun family vacations. Don’t get me wrong my Mother who was a single parent with five kids was a blast but we were very poor and never owned our own home, or new clothes for that matter. We ended up being very comfortable with disappointment and the reality that those kinds of things were just not in our ball park. However, my mom was a big believer in goal setting and visualizing our dreams, but it seamed that’s all we did… visualized them. Then my mom died when I was sixteen and she was 38. I can’t tell you how much it has haunted me, that so many of her dreams, she shared with me, never made it to reality. Because of that I think I have lived my life with much action, I learned early on, how devastating procrastination is. I have a fervent belief in creating the life that I want, not what has been giving to me. And that I will never be a victim of my circumstances. And step by step, one choice after another, I am checking off those to-do list, almost faster than I can make them. Recently, I checked off the biggest one on my bucket list… the holy grail of dreams… I went to Italy!

A whopping two weeks in Italy, with the love of my life/husband of 11 years! we saw everything! The best part was that everyone, who was in our tour group, thought we were honey-mooners. It was the sweetest thing. I guess, Italy has a way of bringing, the romance out, who would of thought. 😉

So, as you can see, there are many many beautiful things about Italy. There are some things, that are not so great, and make you really appreciate the good – o – USA. Like a raw pile of ground beef and sausages for an appetizer, and how traffic laws are considered a suggestion and not to be taken seriously.

As crazy as Italy is, they definitely know how to make their desserts… Yum! We had Gelato almost everyday and had different flavors each time. There were even a few times we had it twice in one day. I do have to say… I know it’s wrong but… I like our american Italian food better, “Gasp”, I know, I know. We Americans, make pizza, sooooooo good though. It’s probably, the fact that we use, way more salt and garlic on everything, and we actually have toppings on our pizza, but I love our salty garlic ways. The way, we eat ,italian food here is so different then italian food there (in it’s originating glory) and as much as it pains me to say it… I like Olive Garden better. I know… another gasp. I loved the sites, and the people, and the guides, and the history, and the art, and the dessert, but they can keep their food. The last week we were there, I was like “I could really go for a big mac right about now, and a large diet coke.” I don’t even like hamburgers ,but after all that italian food for fourteen days ….

It was the most stimulating, information-cramming, wonderful two weeks of my life. Even despite the fact, that my ankles swelled up on day four, and I got a nasty head cold to go with my lovely swollen ankles. It was because, I kept having these moment’s ,when I realized, what I was doing for myself. There was one moment, in particular ,when I walked around the corner in Positano ,and there stood the little market/restaurant that I had seen in a picture about eight years ago ,and saved it to my computer. I had dreamt about this little scene, for such a long time, not knowing where it was in Italy. All these years, and there it was, right in front of me. And it really hit me, just how much, I have done for myself to get to this point, where I am making my biggest dreams come true. It was so empowering.

photo on my computer

Since I’ve been back home, I have this new sense of how obtainable things are, and how small the world is. A plane ride away actually. Now ,when I dream of the places I will go, or things I will do ,it is not with a belief that I’m sure I can do it, it is now a matter of making the steps to do it. It wasn’t just a great vacation to Italy, it was so much more than that. I’ve changed me, and I am both humbled by that change and taken back at how powerful I really am. And I am touched deeply with the blessing of that awareness and awakening.

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Gelato, Swollen Ankles and a Dream Come True

@houseofpixeldust