Monday With Aristotle and Assorted Parts

Summer has officially worn out her welcome and although I'd like to bid her a fond and appreciative adieu/ciao/see ya, she just wont leave.

Maybe if I remind her I'm fresh out of this:

... she'll leave gracefully and not let the screen door of Autumn smack her in the derriere/culo/bootay  on the way out.

Therfore, if you will, please indulge me one final "Remember September" re-post from 2 years ago today.  My apologies for the lack of postings & reruns as you all know the drill.  Real life, not lived out on these pages, is wrapped around me like a sumptuous cashmere sweater (although it's still 80 degrees here!) 

I wish all the same for all of you and we'll see you all next week! 

Monday, September 28, 2009

Monday With Aristotle and Assorted Parts

Sometimes the smallest of things can make the biggest difference and change your outlook on an entire day. It could be as simple as a shower (with citrus sugar scrub!), the smell of coffee and the feel of the warm mug in your hands, the sun on your face and arms the minute you step outside the house, interaction with another person, or a combination of things. Often the change is not perceivable until after you realize, something just made your day. Something just cleared the fog that was hanging low around your mind. And you smile. Because despite the effort some people (maybe unknowingly) make to stay miserable, you allowed yourself to find bliss in the smallest of things, and pass it on to those around you.

Yesterday was one of those days I noticed a few irritants - mostly focused on my Italian language progress ... and all the f***ing herds of tourists I have to cut my way through like "crap through a goose" (thank you, Mr. Patton) to get from point A to B - were attempting to muck up my beautiful Monday. Since I left my career, every Monday has been beautiful. I can't tell you the release of not feeling that knot in the pit of your stomach on Sunday night as you realize your weekend is over, and the next handful of days out of your life are going to be the same stuff, every day: living for Fridays, hating Mondays, charting 'Hump day' milestones. When I realized I was caught up in that, I knew it was time for a change.

Now, when I feel that irritant fog start to roll in, I try to shake it immediately (being a girl with little to no patience) by getting to the root of it. Sometimes it's hormones, or, like yesterday, I let a few schedule conflicts, grammar, and crowds get to me. And I knew it.

But as soon as I crossed the river and started walking up the hill to my language exchange partner's house, I could feel the frustrazione melting away. I was early (shock) so I headed a little further up the hill past her house to stop, turn around, look at the breath-taking view, and feel the sun on my face. No one around but me and the olive trees. I vowed if I come back to work or live, I would definitely trade the conveniences of city center (which do rock) for the peace that comes with living a little more rural. Then I walked back down the hill and we began to sort through her English and my Italian challenges.

NOTE 1: Some Italian nouns - body parts - are masculine singular and feminine plural. Arm (braccio) masculine. Arms (braccia) feminine. WTF? Why is one ear (orecchio) male but the plural (orecchie) feminine? My friend explained it best: "Listening with one ear, men, sounds about right; women listen with both ears." Just the way it is. I'm not going to get caught up in body parts when I have reflexive and intransitive verbs kicking my (masculine) asino culo, {I would hear a lot more of during the last two years and have since learned the difference between the asino (donkey) and the part of human anatomy paratroopers like to refer to as their "4th point of contact."}

NOTE 2: Legs - one (gamba) or both (gambe), and mouth (bocca) are feminine. Am pretty sure in the shallow male mind, that speaks volumes.

It's all perspective, you see. You wake up and put that negative energy out there that your day is going to suck, then it will. Grammar is not kicking my ass as much as I thought yesterday morning. I'm just in a place in my education known as a "quiet phase," my language exchange friend assured me. It's kind of like being at a plateau in the weight-loss process; it seems like you are making no progress, but then, if you stick with it, you start seeing amazing results.

I walked home (legs, feminine) with another one of those stupid smiles (mouth, feminine), welcomed the sun on my masculine arms, thinking about what artery-clogging lunchmeat I was going to shove down my neck (masculine) for lunch (masculine). I found more good news in my e-mail, as I chomped on a salami and pecorino sandwich, about a potential schedule conflict between my much-awaited harvest week in the vineyard and an appointment (read: time-suck, much sitting around) at the immigration office that plagued me all weekend. Because I let it.

My afternoon class was very pleasant, and we received more good news about an opportunity to pour wine at a benefit that will feature one of our world class chefs. Class was dismissed a little early, so we walked back to my friend's house to drink a Chianti, taste a gorgeous Pecorino, and warm, fresh bread scored at a bakery around the corner. We sat chatting looking out the balcony windows, and I thought, whatever it was that was getting to me this morning, dissipated as I allowed the events of the day to just play out.

We only have control over so much. To be present. To let subtle changes happen, to notice, not fixate, on the little things. It's all about taking a step backward, looking at the whole picture - not just the parts - grammar and genders be damned.

"The whole is more than the sum of its parts." (Aristotle)