Home, Again…Then Saugatuck

The Cloud in Millenium Park, Chicago, August 2012

I flew home from Firenze on Tuesday, July 31, exactly 3 weeks ago today (Aug 21'12). And it was time to come home.  The weather was very very hot in July (there were only 5 days where the daytime temperature was under 30ºC!) and the city was starting to shut down for the August holidays. There were only a few regulars at my gym; the locals that I had come to recognize on the streets were absent, and the tourists had truly taken over the Centro.

The flight home deserves its own little blog post (stay tuned), but for the first 5 days back, I think I just stared at the walls of my apartment and felt angry to be surrounded by so many people.  The next 5 days were all about unpacking my personal belongings from my locker and preparing to visit my friend Brandi from Chicago. 

Lake Street Commons B&B, Saugatuck, Michigan

 Before Brandi left Firenze, we had organized a 4-day reunion in Saugatuck, Michigan, which took place last week. Saugatuck is a beautiful little resort community on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan, and is a mini-Provincetown for the Chicago set.  Brandi had been back in North America since the beginning of July so she was used to not living in Firenze. On her return though, she observed that the pace was quicker in North America, people talked louder, they were fatter than Europeans, and there was an intensity to life here that is just not present in most of Europe.  On all counts, I concur.

Brandi, in our kichen.

Our reunion was just that, a reunion, and very different from the “daily-ness” of being stranieri (foreigners) together in a place we both came to love.  Brandi and I did many things together in Italy, but surprisingly, we didn’t reminisce that much.  I think the intensity and uniqueness of the whole Firenze experience is so deeply personal that any attempt to “re-live it” is to diminish it somehow.  So we stayed in the moment, and enjoyed each other’s company as I knew we would.

Brandi, on Douglas Beach, August 2012

Seeing Brandi and spending time in Saugatuck was, in many ways, the end of my sabbatical and my Florentine adventure.  Even though I have three weeks left before I head back to work, there is a lot to tidy up (like finishing this blog), friends to re-connect with, and fresh new starts to begin.  Saying arrivederci at the Midway airport to Brandi was bittersweet because she’s going back in September and I’m not!  But it   was not a good-bye, just a “see you later.”  Kind of what I felt when I boarded the plane to come home.

What is not to like about fresh Blueberry Pie!