IMPROVEMENTS CAN GET MESSY

By Larry & Arlene on Oct 8, 2023 in Blog | 8 comments

     It has been a while since our last post and we have just finished a busy summer. First, we want you to know we continue to be fine. The rate at which time passes seems, somehow, to have speed up and it is now already early Autumn in Italy. During the summer season recently past, we returned for the seventh year to a rented place on the sand on the shore of the Adriatic Sea. This is a fortunately reoccurring,  refreshing and rejuvenating experience that has the side benefit of avoiding the inundations of summer mass tourism in many places in this wonderful country. We have tranquility during the summer season and, as full time residents, make our pilgrimages to important cultural places in a more peaceful off-season. This is literally, the best of both worlds. People are what it means to be in human society. Among the joys of experience on the shore over the years has been sharing the experience with other more recently arrived expatiates from the U.S., but also getting to know Italian families. There is a continuity for us in becoming acquainted with Italian families enjoying the shore with their maturing children. Each year as we return to the shore, we marvel at how much these children have grown, season-to-season. Over time, a small group of Americans has settled in Ascoli. As in any groupings of associations, while continuing to enjoy a larger circle of expatriates and Italians, it seems a smaller circle have become a little closer. Somehow there may be some combination of similarity of temperament, what we collectively value in life and a considerate and respectful caring regard for each other that helps to cement an emotional bond. Being around each other is just ‘easy’. It may be inevitable as we become closer to others in friendship, we have an opportunity to not only share in their joys, but also become aware of their health struggles and sorrows. An effect this has had on us is to reinforce not taking for granted all that has become vitally important and sustaining in our lives. In the background, the COVID disruptive impact on the patterns of all our lives resulted in...