August 15, 2023

Buon Ferragosto ☀️

Here’s a series of selfies from a week ago at my favorite hour on one of my favorite rooftops in Rome (@hoteldelavillerome) which is one of my favorite places in the world 💫

Looks like I knew what was coming, doesn’t it?

It’s been a weird week. I got acute tonsillitis. I went to the hospital in Italy for the first time, ever. I am in awe at the humanity in the healthcare system here (not the first time). I’m mostly cured now and taking so much more time than I ever take to just, rest.

Rest.

To just be. To just sit with it all. It’s been an internal rollercoaster, to say the least. I’m really good at giving out the advice to rest— (my favorite thing to ‘prescribe’) but when I’m confronted with it, at its rawest form, I’m real antsy to actually surrender to it. To give in to it. To put down distractions, to sit with things.

I know *how* to, I just don’t always, y’know: do it.

But, with tonsils the size of golf balls that’s exactly what I did.

I had to cancel visits I was *really* excited about and a trip with one of my best friends.

I had to turn way off, I had to go way in.

And now I’m back, mostly. I feel really, really positive about life. Spontaneous solo-laughter positive. Characteristically, yes— but damn there were moments in the sickness where everything went real dark and I wondered where the light was.

Here it is. Today is a national holiday in Italy and I stayed at home, got antibiotics injected into my 🍑, took a walk, did some yoga, talked to friends from Asheville (not a holiday there!) and felt more positive and joyful then I’ve felt all week.

I had a long terrace convo with my 78-year old neighbor and he told me about a woman he’d had a crush on in his 20s that warmed my heart. We also talked a lot of shit about my other (awful) neighbors that made me giggle. It was a great day.

And what I know is this: REST is really important and if we don’t schedule it in, surprise! It’ll come chasing after us anyway.