This past week has been full of ups, downs and sideways. Carpe diem—often used to urge someone to make the most of the present time and give little thought to the future—was the perfect sentiment to describe it.
Shortly after Jason left, the weather returned to mid-30 temperatures, blue skies and sunshine. We were having a full-on summer blast and I was loving it. But things never go as planned, and what I had planned was lots of big bike rides, time in the pool and general merriment, delighting in the whole summery scene. What happened instead was the arrival of a big head cold, and I had to make some revisions. I forced myself out for miniature bike rides and did spend some time getting vitamin D from the sun while in the pool. It was simply not nearly a lovely as when you feel good. While it seemed perfect weather for rosé or beer, I was having herbal tea and homemade chicken soup. Not the end of the world to be sure, and I had to rest up for the upcoming weekend, which I most definitely did.
My friends and I had booked a weekend in Venice, and a head cold wasn’t part of the plan. I have been trying to get to Venice for years and something always goes wrong. So, the cold didn’t seem surprising and I figured it would be on its way out the door by the time the weekend arrived. When our friend called with some very tragic news, we considered cancelling. It didn’t seem right to have this weekend without her given the circumstances. While speaking with Jason, he encouraged me to go. I was sick and felt terrible for my friend, so I wasn’t sure what to do. In the end, he reminded me to seize the day. Life is full of unexpected and sad things, so we have to make sure we enjoy the moments when we can. And I needed to break the Venice “curse” and finally get there.
There was no doubt our thoughts were often with our dear friend, but we were so glad we decided to still go. The weekend was filled with moments of laughter, sunshine, joy and beauty and it reminded us how important it is to live each day to the fullest. Venice is everything I imagined, and a lot more. We stayed in a quiet neighbourhood, found wonderful off-the-beaten-path gems and managed to steer clear of too many crowds. It’s an amazing place, a stunning feat of human achievement in architecture and beauty. Every day, each Cicchetti, each sunset, each stunning canal, was a reminder of how important it is to cherish the people you love and soak up everything this glorious world has to offer us while we can.
