I Got Nothin'

Today is Sunday and I had a funny realization this afternoon. With not much on the agenda for the day, El and visiting cousin Roberta off on a day trip to Monopoli, I headed off to do the one errand I had for the day- buy some lettuce. That was it. On the trip I stopped for a beer and pulled out my tablet to create a blog post and I sat there. Not sure if I was waiting for divine inspiration or just to have a thought from the past week pop into my mind or what. But, I sat. With nothing coming to me I began to consider our time here. We are within our last 7 days in the city and beginning our wind down and it dawns on me why I can’t think of anything to write about...life has become routine. When we first arrived I was interested in everything that was new and different- and blogworthy. New businesses. New people. New ways of settling in and getting comfortable. And today, I sit here realizing that I have started to take some of that stuff for granted. What was different, has become familiar. People who were strangers have become friends. It has taken almost two months, but I feel comfortable here. Not to suggest that those initial weeks of wonderment and learning about the unknown were uncomfortable, not at all. But, the feeling of contentment I feel as we get ready to leave makes me think I made the most of my time here. Enough to be ready to leave and not be disappointed about it. After two months, in a city that doesn’t have all that much to offer in the way of tourist stops, we have made quite the time of it. I am sure I will think of something else to write about, but for now I will bask in the rush of familiarity that renders me speechless...for the moment.

As a follow-up: I wrote the above earlier in the week and was going to post today. You may recall a post I made when we first arrived about how loud the garbage collection trucks are when they come through in the wee hours? [Let's Talk About Garbage on March 21] Well, El and I got up early to take a walk this morning. It was about 5:15am. The streets were eerily silent and we did nothing to break the still. As we walked past the garbage dumpsters along our block I stopped when I realized...they were empty! This meant that the trucks came through last night and a process that would wake us immediately when we first arrived has now become something we can both sleep through, never knowing they were there until we see the results in the morning. Talk about feeling comfortable in our surroundings.