I just returned from beautiful Italy again and I learned so much on this trip! One of the things I learned is how Italians live in the present.

On the plane on the way over, there was a flight attendant who was talking with the women in the seat in front of me, who had never been to Italy. An American who lives in Italy now, one of the things that he said echoed in my head throughout my entire trip.

“Italians don’t care how much money you make or what kind of car you drive. They just like to feel the breeze on their face.”

Whoa. How is that for a philosophy? “Feel the breeze on your face.”

But here in America, it’s completely different, isn’t it? Seldom content with what we have, we are always pining for the new car, the fabulous trip, THAT pair of shoes, a checkbook balance that exceeds our expenses…

As I was describing the comments I heard on the airplane to my friend, Pam, who also lives in Italy, she shared the phrase “Piano Piano” with me, which literally means “slowly slowly”.

Piano, piano.

Slow down.

Relax a little.

Feel the breeze on your face.

I have to be honest, though. As good as that sounded to me, I had a bit of prejudice about the whole thing. How can I be successful if I slow down? How can I get anything DONE? How can I be my normal, ambitious, amazing self if I’m not constantly on the GOGOGOGOGO?

Then, I met some Italian entrepreneurs. They define their success exactly how they want to. It’s not this constant discontent and rush of the pursuit of wealth that we propagate here in the US. It just is. They enjoy what they have, keep their values in the forefront of their minds, and continue to build their lives to reflect that. They don’t spend time checking to see what their neighbors are doing. They just do. And enjoy. Slowly.

Success CAN be defined by great wealth, but for me, success is being able to create the money I want or need whenever I want, and enjoying life along the way to its fullest.

Out of curiosity, I Googled the phrase “Piano piano”. Seems as though that’s just the first part of the whole phrase. The rest?

“Piano piano si va lontano.”

It means “slowly slowly is the way to go far”. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

HUGS! 

Many years ago, a new friend invited me to her house for coffee. I protested, since I didn’t drink coffee at the time. She insisted and I found myself at her house the next morning. If you haven’t had Israeli coffee, you haven’t lived. It reminded me of tar and even had grounds in the cup.

When she returned, she scrunched up her face and peered intently into the grounds that had settled in my cup. And she began to tell me what she “saw” in the grounds. Now this woman barely knew me – we had just met. And she blew my mind when she said (as she pronounces) “What is dees? I see three mothers here. One of them is most like your mother but she is not blood. This one is blood, but more of a friend. And DEES one……ooooo…you don’t like dees one.” My foster mom, my “real” mom, and my step-mother, respectively. Dead on about all of them. And I got a bonus mom – my mother-in-law, a wonderful mom to me for almost 28 years, too. 

I am grateful for every one of them. They each contributed to my life, and they each did the best they could with what they had and they each helped to form who I am as a mom, and I think I turned out pretty well. Not perfect, but I’m doing the best I can, too. (A cute pic is me with my grandson Nash- one day old!  May 2011)

Celebrate the moms in your life. All of them. On Mother’s Day and every day. 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a Happy day.

HUGS!