Tag: life choices

53. Reasons to Run Away

The holidays in the last two months of the year – namely, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. – are often times for sharing hearty meals and catching up with relatives and friends we may not have seen for a while. These can be happy occasions, awkward encounters, or even stormy confrontations. Sometimes, these get-togethers lead to sad […]

52. The Voice of Longing

Back in Italy I had an uncle I’ll call “Pietro.” Even as a little kid, I understood how selfish, ungrateful, and boorish he was. Uncle Pietro, from what I saw, was not highly motivated. Whatever he managed to accomplish and obtain in life, it was thanks mostly to his brother, my father, who was generous […]

23. The Dream of a Shepherd

The late high-wire artist Karl Wallenda famously said, “Being on the tightrope is living. Everything else is waiting.” Instead of “waiting,” he could have said “dreaming.” There is such a big difference between dreaming and doing. Dreaming about doing something has its satisfactions. But dreaming is just simulation, without real-world experience. It’s a safety net […]

2. On the Road to …

My sister was driving me in her old cinquecento (Fiat 500) to a new doctor in Naples, and she was unfamiliar with the city. She had never driven there, and if you know Naples, you know how big, congested, and confusing it is. I’ve never driven, so the best I could do was read the […]