Jeanne's Next Chapter: Say Yes to Everything

An interesting thing happened here in Italy, when I found myself in a new place, where I knew no one and where I had a wide open calendar. I started saying yes to everything. I have been accepting all invitations, I am carrying on conversations with anyone who seems willing (and is able to) converse with me and I read any poster or flyer that I see tacked up on a bulletin board. This phenomenon has happened a few previous times in my life, as it did when I left home and went away to college and again when Dave's job took us to Alabama 20 years ago. I am not sure if it arises from the quiet desperation of loneliness or from the freedom to totally start over, but I find myself truly enjoying all of the experiences that develop unexpectedly.

I have gone on an archeological walking tour, attended cooking classes, discovered a wine region that can compete with Tuscany, and traveled up winding roads to find an isolated mountain restaurant. New friends have invited me to go on walks where we found trails with views that are more spectacular than any described in guidebooks. I have had lunch dates with women old enough to be my mother and young enough to be my daughter; each time I am given another piece of the puzzle as I figure out how to live and thrive here. When my alarm went off early one morning recently, I regretted having agreed to join a friend for a hike on such a cold day. As I rode my bicycle along the lake path to meet her, I found I had the normally crowded promenade to myself. If not for our planned rendezvous, I would have missed that moment of overwhelming beauty and serenity.

The calendar is filling up and I know my way around now. I can feel that openness starting to slip away a little as my life starts to develop a routine. I want to remember no matter how comfortable I get, and even after I move back to the U.S. in a few years, that there always needs to be a new person to get to know or a new path to explore. I want to keep saying yes.