NEW YEAR’S PERSPECTIVE – 2019

By Larry & Arlene on Jan 16, 2019 in Blog | 2 comments

As we sit in our comfortable apartment in Ascoli Piceno, it is within a few days of the transition into a new year.  Although snow has been visible in the higher elevations immediately west of Ascoli for several weeks, this morning we have had our first more serious snowfall of the season here in town. It has become a habit to try and reflect on our overall experience with the ending of one year and the beginning of a new one.  When this practice started, we were trying to get our heads around what was happening to us in the process of electively uprooting ourselves and attempted to become inserted into a culture about which we had only a superficial understanding.  All be it, we were doing this at a time in our lives when, so-called conventional wisdom suggests that in your more ‘mature years’, tranquil stability and predictability ought to be part of your life. I guess we must have missed that particular talk show segment.  It is fascinating that while people have many fundamental similarities, we also seem to come in a variety of packages made up of different strains of restlessness, curiosity and a low threshold for boredom.  Added to that variety in human makeup is the interesting probability of finding yourself in a committed, long-term relationship with another person with whom you share enough similarities in this mix of characteristics that you don’t drive each other into frustrated distraction. It seems to be a reoccurring thread in this Blog that we comment on our feelings of gratitude for being in a marital relationship that remains vital and gratifying even after more than thirty years of acquaintanceship. We apparently share enough core, temperamental characteristics to make the relationship work. The wonder to me is how we were smart enough to understand that as we began to get to know each other.  I freely confess, given her obvious attributes, I became very attracted to her and in time that developed into a committed relationship. Retrospectively, I realize I absolutely made the right decision, however, there may have been some possible initial elements of being motivated by the wrong reasons. As time has gone on, I have found myself ready to accept...