Three Lessons in 15 Italian Minutes

It was already dark when we arrived into Florence. We had been driving around all day, and I was ready to step away from behind the wheel and be home - wherever our-home-for-the-night was going to be.

We had the address of our Airbnb, but my phone was unable to get an internet signal to guide us there. Without it, I had no clue how we would find 65 via Marconi.

I was tired. I just wanted to stop and take a break from the fast roundabouts, from the zip zip motorcycles and Vespas that appeared out of nowhere.

My heavy mind was feeling uncharacteristically helpless and out of resources, and for a long second I thought that maybe we should spend the night into the nice gas station we had just pulled into. I turned off the engine. I leaned into the headrest and closed my eyes. The idea of somehow landing in front of our apartment felt naive and silly. I told my son that we were never going to find it.

He was calm and he was kind. And he had zero intention of not finding the place. So he said to me: “let’s just take action.”

I opened my eyes and looked at him. What the heck did that mean “just take action?”

He repeated: “Let’s just take some action, and we’ll get unstuck.”

Ooooookay. Take action. Turn on the car. Then ... what? Go right, he said. We went right. And then drove a little bit. And then, all of a sudden, I remembered our host having said something about being near a busy stadium. And then, we saw a sign for “stadio,” so we went that way, and a bit further.

I felt a little better.

Meanwhile, my son was playing with the screen display on the dashboard.

When I had picked up our car at the airport, a few days before, the rental agent has asked me if I wanted to pay extra for the GPS, and I had said no thank you (ha!). For this reason, I had told Costa that we did not have GPS service. Which was incorrect. Within minutes of pressing buttons, there “She” was, ready to guide us to wherever we wanted, with a beautiful sultry French voice. Apparently, just because I did not want to pay extra, did not mean I did not get one. Great lesson in assumption.

Pretty soon, lead by our new French voice friend, we arrived in front of Massimo’s beautiful home. Just like that. SO much better than the gas station, and all this because we had taken action.  We had gotten back on the road, which somehow triggered the memory of the stadium, which allowed us to see the signs for the stadium. Then, Costa had decided to question my statement about no having a GPS. And there we were.

Three lessons in 15 Italian minutes. Quite the deal.

Lesson #1
Let’s get back on the road, even if we not sure where you are going, nor how.  Let’s trust life to jog our memory, provide us with clues, and partner with us.

Lesson #2
Let’s not translate people’s words into our own meaning. No, we don’t want to pay extra for the GPS. Fine. No one has said that this meant we don’t get a GPS. It just means we don’t have to pay extra for it. So simple.

Lesson #3
Let’s be sure to travel through life l with a great co-pilot. One who is calm, believes in a friendly universe, and  is big time possibility-minded. Totally worth its weight in gelato.

We had several wonderful days in Alessio’s apartment and many more adventures!

Wishing you a super sweet day...