Italy

Have you ever had a dream so big that you were afraid that if it ever came true that it could never possibly live up to the image you had in your head? So instead you want to keep it safe from reality? This is how I feel about Italy, a country that I have wanted to travel for over 10 years. I imagine paradise... a place where great food, delicious wine, stunning world-famous art, beautiful historic architecture, wonderful and friendly people, rich and fascinating culture and history, and breath-taking landscapes come together in one place in such a way that you literally feel like this could be heaven on earth, and that you could stay forever enjoying all that this perfect place has to offer.

I often joked that if I ever went to Italy that I might never come back.

When I made my list I intentionally did not put Italy on it. I did this for two reasons, in part because it is a dream that I couldn’t bear to lump together with the others as though it were no more special or important to me than the rest, but in large part because I fear it may not measure up to the romantic version of it that I have in my head.

Originally Italy was planned to be a grad trip with my best friend Dan, whom I met in college and almost immediately adopted as the brother my parents never gave me. I convinced him that once we graduated from University, we would celebrate in Italy, but school took longer than either of us anticipated, and then over the years life, finances, and our diverging paths got in the way, and I was left with the dream of Italy that grew more vivid and romantic with every passing year, becoming this vision in my mind that I could not bear to see diminished by reality.

My list seems to have triggered others in my life to think about what their list might be comprised of. So when my sister made a list of her own #14 said Italy, and I know she may, in part, have been inspired by my decade-long obsession with the country, but I also know that she, like myself imagines paradise... a place where great food, delicious wine, stunning world-famous art, beautiful historic architecture, wonderful and friendly people, rich and fascinating culture and history, and breath-taking landscapes come together in one place in such a way that you literally feel like this could be heaven on earth. I think we both became enamoured with this place during college when we signed up for an Art History class together and we sat in the auditorium looking at larger than life pictures of the great works of art of the Renaissance period and fell in love. I think this because #14 said “Go to Italy with Dar...”   

And so, although I am not adding Italy to my list, I will honour my dream of Italy by promising myself that for all of life’s little pleasures, for all the adventures, for all the memories, for all the achievements, I will one day – if it takes me another decade or even two – find myself in Italy, taking in all that paradise has to offer while I raise a glass of wine to a life-long journey that brought me there.

Salute
– Dar