Sunday morning thoughts – November 12, 2023

Sta nevicando - e penso a te.

Sitting on my sofa looking outside where it has just started snowing. It’s 9.29. I was up until 2 AM with friends on Zoom so that’s not as late a start as you might think. “E penso a te” is playing on a loop. More on that later. I can’t take a picture of it snowing because I’m too lazy to open the blinds. I might show you what kind of blinds we have in Switzerland at some point. It’s probably not what you think. We have different ones. Just like we have tilt & turn windows. I think the Germans invented them, so I guess I have to give them credit. You might want to look those up.

It's really snowing now. It’s not going to stick as it’s wet and it’ll start raining again very soon. I just opened the window to watch it. Which brings me to something else that pops up on my timeline a lot. It’s “lüften”. There are these people (mostly Americans from what I can tell) who are amazed by the German and Swiss practice of airing out your apartment. It’s even in my lease agreement that I have to do this like twice a day. It’s when you open all your windows at the same time for like 5-10 minutes. And we do this year-round. So, I am now sitting here in close to freezing temperatures with all my windows open. My hair’s wet and I’m barefoot. And that’s perfectly normal.

I love how people who are not used to it think it’s insane. Especially in winter.

Anyway, what else was on my mind this week? Oh, yes … so, on Thursday I walk into the office and find a box of chocolates on my desk with a lovely thank you note on it. Almost brought tears to my eyes. What a kind gesture! It was for something I did that’s completely normal to me. We’re all in this together and if we can make somebody else’s day easier, we totally should. That was my initial reaction, and I did thank her personally and tell her how it really touched me. Then it turned to what must her day be like that such a small thing I did gets such a reaction? I don’t think she gets much appreciation for all the hard work she does. That made me sad. Seriously guys, kindness matters. I made her day, she made mine. Be that someone that puts a smile on somebody’s face today.

Just like the two (it could have easily been three – please feel included in this North Carolina) friends who agreed to a spontaneous Zoom call Thursday night and let me rant for 20-minutes straight just sitting there waiting until I was done. Love you guys! It was much needed. And I can’t wait to walk around NYC with you, have Chinese for lunch and ice cream for dinner. Oh, and there’s a couple of cinnamon raisin bagels in there too. Not long now.

For those of you who want to follow the concert online. I’ll be adding the link for online tickets to a newsletter as soon as it’s available. If you’re in Europe it’s well worth staying up until 1.30 AM for. Trust me.

Anyway, now that we’re on music. There’s this song a musician recorded with his nonna that is too beautiful not to share. It’s just been released on all streaming services. I came across it on Instagram a month ago. It’s both the song and the love that you can see between them for me. It’s just beautiful. I’m sharing a YouTube short here  since not all of my readers have Instagram.

There are so many covers of this song out there (the original is from 1972) and I went down a Laura Pausini YT rabbit hole yesterday when I saw her name pop up. I now want to learn Italian properly. I mean I grew up with Italian music. I understand what they are singing. I just never bothered to learn it. I can speak to Italians as long as they ask me yes and no questions. It’s a perfect system.

So, this song is called “e penso a te” - and I think of you. I’m at work – and I think of you. I get home – and I think of you. And so on. At the end of this video they say that “the city is too big for two people who have stopped hoping but who keep looking (for each other)” - my translation. I love these two. The full song is available on your preferred streaming service.

I might pull out some Italian CDs today. Yes, I still have CDs. Italian playlists might work as well. Such a lovely language.

I don’t really want to end this on a downer, but I can’t leave you without mentioning a book I’ve just started reading. It’s “When the body says no – the cost of hidden stress” by Gabor Maté. Let me just say that I’m equally proud that I came to some of the same conclusion as Gabor all on my own and annoyed that I didn’t find him and his work earlier in life. Of course, I would not have been ready to hear/read what he had to say. And yes, I know I’ve said it myself earlier in the week. You can’t turn back time. So, I’m glad I found him now and that his work is helping me make more sense of my own healing process (proudly avoiding the “j”-word there hoping to make somebody smile).

It has now stopped snowing and is raining again. My ginger shot has melted – I buy a big bottle and then pour it into ice cube trays, because I can’t finish it in the three days indicated on the bottle. Works perfectly and it’s way less plastic than buying the little one-shot bottles.

So, I’ll leave you here and wish you a wonderful Sunday. Be kind. Be kind to others. Be kind to yourself. Hugs all around.

This was exactly a year ago when I went for a hike in the fog.