Friday, February 25, 2011

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory

If I had realized that these pictures were on this computer, I would have used this pictures for yesterday's -- my favorite night -- but it will definitely work for my favorite memory too.

It isn't just the beauty of the sunset above Florence, Italy or the fact that I was in Italy to begin with. It was the whole day. Before this, Sheila and I had traipsed up and down the same street several times, looking for the place where we planned to stay for the remainder of our trip. It was raining. It was cold. We were lugging bags with us. We were tired. The directions we had weren't good.

When we finally located our place, we were wet and at least one bag had been dropped in a puddle. We trudged up to the third floor, spread things out to dry, rested a bit and then walked BACK up the hill to an overview of the city of Florence.

I wanted to cry.

There were colors in the sky I had never seen before. Colors that explained why Michaelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel the way he did. The rain had moved through, the air was cool and crisp for the love of Pete, I was IN FLORENCE, ITALY!

CS Lewis said, "A pleasure is only fully grown when it is remembered." Times like this are wonderful examples of that truth. That day, I loved being where I was. I did not discount the experience. However, looking back on it -- being able to put it in its full context -- it is an even richer experience.

Who's ready to go to Florence?

2 comments:

Angela said...

Good gravy! I don't think I've ever seen anything that looked like it could have been an inspiration for Michaelangelo! I'm so glad you got to make that trip and I'm especially glad you got to make it with Sheila. Good on ya'!

Sheila said...

Would you like the picture of our things hanging around drying out to go with this??

It was absolutely gorgeous, wasn't it? I'll never forget that day or that evening.