An Adventure to the East Coast

13 days.  More like 12 1/2.  And I take off for the East Coast.  The trip began with a wedding... and grew into an adventure three regions wide.  What with the expense of air travel, especially coast to coast during summer, and the fact that I haven't actually visited out that way in almost eight years - it seemed apropos to turn a long weekend in Ithaca into 'an actual' visit.

It's anyone's guess as to what I am truly getting myself into.  Visiting my family is always a dangerous option.  Hope to be pleasantly surprised.  Rollercoaster is fully expected, though.  I know better.  Moral support may be needed.  I think moving around every few days will keep things lighthearted and fun...

A few things I am actually very much looking forward to: time with my little brother in his 'hood, as well as time with my two little nieces, a real Red's game, bowling (I hear that snicker!), a boisterous weekend with the Italians.  Another great thing about the two weeks is a break from what the daily grind has become.  A breather is much needed.  It's a bit insane the way things have been for months.  More time for life and maybe an actual day off once a week?  Once the bank account gets to where it should be, all will get back to normal.  At least, my idea of normal.  Making the most of things as that happens.

So... all that said, it should be a blog-worthy two weeks!  Pictures and outrageous escapades are bound to follow...

Italy - from 4/28

A few days ago, I made a decision.  It's time for action.  Time to work on getting my Italian passport.  Thinking about traveling and life lately, I just realized that I may really want to go abroad again for awhile.  It may just be the thirst for another adventure.  It may be that I miss the mornings in Europe, the emphasis on play and not just work, the experience of another culture, the walks I used to take at night to feel the energy in the air, the food.  I feel like there may be a change ahead on the horizon of some sort.  And that if there is, I should be ready for it.

I think that in the past I always put the idea off because I was afraid of ditching the real family that I had found, my friends, and ending up alone trying to make a new one in a new place.  Which seems frightfully silly from where I am seeing things at the moment.  My friends are always there no matter what.  And life should never be lived holding back even just a little.

A little of the future...

At times I think about living abroad again.  A year or two in Europe... or Australia.  Maybe a place in between.  It's always a thought in the back of my mind, ever since traveling around as much as I did.  I like San Francisco and for now it's good - it's the first place in America that's felt like home for a long time.  However, that doesn't mean that I will be around the Bay area forever.

And it gets tougher to feel settled when the people around me take off for foreign adventures.  And now I have two friends who are in the midst of doing so.  It makes me wonder about my own future.  The things I would like about living abroad again.  What it would take to make all that happen.  And would I want to do it alone again this time around.

If these ideas are always floating under the surface, always exploding when I hear of others doing such things... then they should eventually be made to happen, yeah?  It's a strange line of thought that zig zags through my head.  A jumble of emotions and ideas.  I am just wondering what will become of all of it...