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We were in Italy the past couple of weeks. Started in Florence for a few days, rented a spectacular villa in Tuscany for a week with five couples from our neighbourhood, and then spent the last four days in Venice.

This trip proved an epiphany for me ~ a sign that the worst of my journey with adrenal fatigue is likely behind me, and that I can now look forward to being more fully engaged with life.

I can hardly express my relief.

For the past few years I’ve inhabited the in-between ~ crossing the bridge from a life time of PTSD, and all the dysfunction that implies, to a healthier and more functional way of being. I’ve been healing and this trip to a land steeped in culture and history and landscape and pizza has proven just how far I’ve come.

Italy, my panacea ~ the flavourful food, the delicious wines, the interesting character(s), the incredible vistas, the intense colours, the ornate murano glass, the exquisite leathers and fabrics, the refreshing gelato … an exquisite jumping off point to another amazing chapter in my life.

I feel so fortunate.

Of course, the healing journey continues, but I can move forward now knowing that the progress has been worth the pain and that I am on the right track.

So, with beautiful Italy still very much forefront in my mind it seems appropriate to share this image taken from the Ponte San Trinita in Florence, looking down the River Arno toward the Ponte alla Carraia. Beyond this second bridge and waving between the arches is a sculpted stickman planted on some kind of jetty in the middle of the river ~ no doubt there to add a little whimsy and amuse those, like myself, addicted to standing on a bridge capturing countless images of the setting sun in Italy.

Thanks for visiting …

Dorothy 🙂

©Dorothy Chiotti, Aimwell CreativeWorks 2014

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