Chapter 1:  12 May 2013

Flashback....Should I start this journey with one of those very "banale" beginnings?  You know, the time I said this or that in a seemingly sort of dream state when on holiday with a friend in an exotic Asian country where I met a handsome Australian and then presumed it was the beginning of the beginning or the beginning of the end?

Let's go back to the "Flashback" scene later as it will eventually help piece together the present state of my existence.....

This story is not at all unique really.  Certainly many millions of people do such things every day!  It's just that in the world that I come from, you don't walk away from a 6-figure income, a NYC Apt with full-on views of the Hudson River and GW Bridge, and a pretty cushy lifestyle (depending on how you define cushy, of course..) and take off for another country with no real "other" job or means of steady income to go to as you approach the ripe old age of 50!  Well...may you do...it was not something that 3+ years ago I ever thought I'd do.....Italy was for retirement.  I was coming here in my late 50's --early 60's or maybe mid-60's even, to make a nice life for myself once I had banked as much cash as humanly possible.  Was it ever going to be enough.  The money.  The security.  Do I have enough disability insurance?  Long Term Care insurance?  Health Insurance?  Insurances against terrorist attacks?  Floods? etc.?  I was always planning months and years into the future.....spent most Sunday nights at my desk organizing and planning...

But let's not get too bored.

Let's fast forward....

On March 26th, I said goodbye to the big 6 figure job, sold the lovely apt with views on the hill and moved everything into storage.  I packed myself into 4 suitcases and 2 medium moving boxes and set out with both my US and Italian passport for ITALY.  I arrived here on May 1, hit the road with my dear friend Giorgio and am now about to see if I can make a go of a real "LIFE" here.  It is a grand experiment to say the least.  I tried doing this very same thing back 24+ years ago when I was about 25 without citizenship, however, and ambitious, driven and ready to take over the world with my newly minted MBA degree...Italy just didn't cut it for me long term.  No jobs.  Low level jobs.  Bureaocracy that would choke a horse, gas at $8-9 bucks  a gallon?  Were you kidding?  I ran back home to the USA after less than 12 months and started my career as a marketing executive...20+  years later..I am back again..only this time wiser for the wear...with less to prove, looking for something else...

So....Suffice it to say...in the first half..I learned about what I "don't want" to be doing, to be like, to have happen.  For the second half, part of my escape plans were directly correlated to figuring out what I "do want" and am currently "in search of" at the moment.

I always knew I wanted to retire here.  What a great place to retire.  Yeah, yeah they are in a bad "crisi" here.  A really BAD one.  A lot of small mom - and - pop and family run businesses are failing and closing.  Starbucks is rearing its ugly head in key tourist centers like Milano, Firenze and Roma.  But in the countryside where I am now, people still live very well, drive nice cars and seem to do well enough raising cattle, cats, goats, sheep and chickens.  Life is sweet.  The food is outrageous and well..the challenges, obvious.  But is it worth the risk?  Absolutely.  And.  I didn't run off here because I got laid off or I got married or I followed a man or I wanted a man to follow me...nope...well, I came this soon because I was hoping to come with someone but I came anyway and now let's see how we go....

I am promising 3 times per week entries to this journal.  The rest of the time I have to try and make myself productive so that we can eat!  I am thinking that this summer I will hang around outside late into the night looking for some beefy Cinghiale dal paese.  These are wild boars and they are a regional specialty if you know how to prepare them properly....

Anyway..for this first entry I will close with the simple statement that I am here now and I am totalmente "terrificate" but I am with good friends and surrounded by love, kindness, sweetness and the most gorgeous topography and geography I have ever seen.  This country is so blessed by it's beauty.  It never gets old.......

30 April--Day of Departure---
Left it all in a storage unit, grabbed the boarding passes and the passaporto and headed to the Bell Paese!

 I think I make a good Italiana--this one is for dad...as The Sabella's are from Lanciano!

 Views from the Abruzzo home we house sat in for the first 5 days...no Manhattan Views but views nonetheless.....

 Those are real olive trees in the yard...Raccolgano a casa!

 Terraza Typica

 I spent a few afternoons out back here lounging in the sole with the resident gatto names ZORO who has the life of a real QUEEN!