I never thought I would leave my beautiful home state; California offered everything. But, in the early eighties, my first trip overseas to Dubrovnik, then part of Yugoslavia, changed everything. Suddenly my world expanded and I wanted more of it. Through a series of circumstances and events, I was living in Rome just 14 months later.
Some say it was courageous to do what I did, moving to a country where I’d never been, knew no one, nor spoke the language. I think courage is relative, with desire being the catalyst. I hadn’t the courage to downhill ski, for example, but I did have the desire to live in Italy. The more I saw and the more I discovered, the more I wanted to stay.
After four years in Rome, work led me north to Milan. I met my future husband here during the first month, and here is where we still reside.
By putting myself outside my comfort zone, I challenged myself, enriching my life with a new culture. I met people and made friends that I never would have, had I stayed home.
We often don’t understand our experiences until we can look back and reflect on them, seeing them from the perspective that time provides. The thread that weaves through my own, good and bad, is that they’ve all made mine a journey of self-discovery.
