OK, now the decision has been made...we are going home to the States. We told our daughter; written notice has been given to our landlord; we have each told our best friends here in Italy. The call has been made to the international move coordinator that we used to come here in 2005; an appointment is scheduled for Monday morning for the survey to arrive at a preliminary estimate. Our daughter is going house-hunting this weekend, Saturday, so that she can move out and we can return to our home in New Jersey. It's a done deal.
How do I feel? Happy and relieved, but a little sad. I will be leaving behind my best friend on two continents, Agnes, a wonderful Frenchwoman who seems to be my twin, separated from me at birth.
I won't be sad to leave Italy behind. Nothing works here. I must have been German or Swiss in another life, because I like order and rational processes. My favorite part of Italy outside of Venice is the Alto Adige, which most Italians decry as not being Italian at all, but rather being Austrian, which in fact it was before the end of World War I. I love Corvara, and La Villa, and the Dolomiti, going northeast into the mountains. I love the food, the unselfconscious non-fashionista way of life, the friendliness. I love that people in the Austrian part of Italy understand that it is not a national disloyalty to be able to speak another language. In fact, in the Alto Adige, children are taught three languages ... German, Ladino (a recognized language of the region, not a dialect) and Italian. While they are at it, they learn English...so many English-speakers come there to ski and hike, that if you want to have a job in the tourist business, you need to learn English.
Anyway, right now I am just anxious to be gone from here, totally ready to start again in Long Valley. The best decision we ever made was not to sell the house and not to buy an apartment in Italy.
It's fun to be planning inside improvements to our home, the kitchen first and foremost. While we have been in Italy, Sandra has overseen every outside improvement that a 25-year-old house could possibly need. She jokes that this was our plan...go away, let her move in, let her deal with the roof, the driveway, etc. and we come back to a nice 'new' house. Not true, but in any case, she did a terrific job. Can't imagine what it would have been like to have strangers renting the house when all these things happened. Shudder.
So, we are going home. Some people ... me ... are meant to live in Minnesota, not Shangri-La. Shangri-La is a nice place to visit, but...
2 comments:
So sad you're going home, but you seem happy about it so so am I - for you.
Buon viaggio!!!
From the Daughter:
Yes it is true, I joke that they left to escape some of the perils of homeownership, that they ran away from home to have a wonderful, fantastic, adventure-filled experience in Italia, and left me with the home business (and some financial business) they knew I could handle. I know this was not their intent however, and have been more than happy to take care of the home issues that have arisen while they have been away enjoying the experience of a lifetime, even given some of the downfalls of being ex-pats. I'm jealous even that I can't do what they are doing now and I have at least 20-30 years left of working in the corporate world before I can consider something like that...unless I find a rich benefactor.
Mom's shudder about strange renters would have been a worse ordeal for all...mainly because they would have been worrying even more overseas and I would have had to deal with the renters here anyway, simply due to proximity. Much easier to have been living in and taking care of their home personally. Patience is something I still practice every day and dealing with tenants and these issues simultaneously would probably have pushed me right over the edge.
That being said, we still laugh about all that has occurred while they have been on their extended vacation. Fyi...Mom's 'etc' is the septic tank backing up into the house and the backhoe to dig up baffles and things I have never heard of before, and a new furnace in the basement before it expired a projected season away from when it was actually replaced, and fallen trees that took out parts of the fence, but thankfully missed the house by a foot. Oh, and yes, as a result of the backhoe and fallen trees, a newly seeded lawn, front and back. The new roof and new driveway are beautiful and I am very pleased that I could do this for them, that they did not have to deal with it themselves. This situation might have ultimately saved my Dad's sanity. The dollars flying out of the accounts was enough for him to deal with since the proverbial money tree has never appeared.
Could you imagine if they stayed in NJ and, in one year's time from deciding not to go to Italia, they were faced with all of these mini-crises? Instead of cycling blogs featuring breathtaking scenery and new explorations, instead of recapturing Italia blogs, the ups and downs of being an ex-pat, it would have been closer to a question about why didn't we go to Italia when we had the chance...I would hypothesize. I do know my parents just a little bit.
I am thrilled they are coming home, but will very much miss visiting them twice a year in Italia and sharing their experiences and adventures and travels. All I ask is that when the kitchen remodeling is complete after their return, I get to cook in it at least once!
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