On holiday

I am on holiday.

The person pressing these keys has a relaxed mind. She got to breathe a different air than the one in an office, she spent more time on her feet than sitting in a chair, she stared for hours at pages from different books, she glanced and then (if necessary) took pictures, knowing that is far more important to let the scenery take hold on one's being than one's camera. Well, as mentioned above, this is a true relaxed person.

A relaxed person, when back from vacation, discovers the rhythm in which one activated before vacation. Everything is urgent or has features that may easily transform it into something urgent. The telephone begins to ring, the inbox gets jammed and everything around tries to attract one into the whirlpool from which one escaped.

On such occasions, one realizes the importance of making changes of perspective, and holiday is one such facilitator.

I do not know how others feel about it, but I do believe that our psyche has a lot to gain from disconnecting. There is not just rest that we so desperately need, but also to get closer to our inner self. Big words, I know. Giving them a simpler meaning, every person should find oneself surrounded by calmness. That is, not to have worries humming around one's ears like a mosquito that does not let one sleep during the night.

One moment beautifully marks this vacation, and it is about an olive tree. Roman ruins of a temple bathed into the most powerful sunrays. Nearby, a stone bench was to be seen under a thick treetop of an olive tree. The wind was blowing nicely, making it easy for the coolness to take hold of one's thoughts. There, everything one needed was in that moment. Nothing more, nothing less. A coolness so strong that it could keep the worries at bay.

I hope such a feeling could get ahold of you the entire duration of the year!

Interesting

Do you also happen to find this adjective everywhere? It seems that nowadays nothing is worth the attention unless it’s presented this way.

You meet with a friend and you ask her/ him how was the movie you know she/ he saw. Interesting, without a doubt! A book, a play, even a song. They are all interesting.

The adjective interesting reminds me of a funny occurrence from last year.

I was somewhat new to a company and I was trying to get familiar with my tasks. Visiting us, there was a gentleman from another country. I showed him a desk where he could sit at and work, and he easily immersed into the screen of his laptop. For an hour or two.

My colleagues and I were talking amongst each other. From time to time. At a certain point, the gentleman got off his chair and turned his head towards me.

              ‘How do you love your job so far? Can you tell me a little about something interesting that you are working at right now?’

I managed to give him an answer, but the question left me rather puzzled. Interesting? Why interesting? Or better said, why only interesting?

The guest left shortly after this, but a colleague gave me an inspirational possible answer: ‘You should have told him you were working on your groceries list’. We laughed. In that office, we were all experts in ironies.

But still, why interesting? Not everything that we do is interesting. Sometimes, one has no choice but to do things that are slightly or even not at all interesting. But that does not mean one does not grow, learn, for the challenges one faces when is confronted with less interesting tasks helps one evolve.

And so, I am now into encouraging people to use other adjectives. Interesting, isn’t it?!

The Blue Dragonfly

The other day, I was engaged in a conversation regarding the Danube Delta. And about the fact that even though I was born and raised very close to it, I only managed to visit it while I was 24 years old. Thanks to a friend that had a friend in the Murighiol locality.

Good old friends! It’s mostly due to them that one gets to see precious things one had in their vecinity, but which they have ignored or have considered that they had plenty of time to see, anyway, and have postponed the visit for another time.

It’s a serious illness this ‘another time’. I am putting it down here, both for me and for you. In case I forget, do remind me of it! For our time is here and nothing and no one can guarantee for tomorrow. And we know that. Just like we know that every day the sun rises, and in the evening it sets. Or maybe, because we know this, that’s why we do not cherish time? Would this be the explanation?!

Even though we went to the Danube Delta in the middle of August, we shivered with cold while on boat, going from one channel to another. The stops, actually, made us really happy. One – because the temperature would become rather friendly. Especially, to our clothes. For they were absolutely inappropriate considering the draft there. We had the highest expectations. But we found out that they were not the most befitting. The expectations, I mean.

Two – because everything would calm down. The hoarse hum of the engine of the boat would fade out, the water would no longer be stirred by circles and white foam that came from our boat, and when the sun would come out of the clouds (for it was a cloudy day), the heat embraced us and made us totally bespelled by it.

Looking at a distance, flocks of birds, water lilies and pelicans would whitely embroider the scenery. It is something in the way nature swathes and shows one that humanity is at its mercy. And not the other way around. Even though it lets one believe that. It is exactly like in the story that my mother used to tell me. I don’t remember where had she heard it from. It was a story about horses. About the fact that people put blinders to the horses’ eyes so that they are not able to see just how small people actually are. If they knew, they would definitely crush them and no longer carry the burden for them.

And as we lingered there, exactly in the midst of a great power, we would look downward, to the water lilies. A vague sour smell was rising. And it was then I saw it. The blue dragonfly. It was sitting on a water lily leaf. Then, it gently started flying. I reached out my hand and, as if at a sign, it landed on my palm.

And I won’t deny it. I am a fan of the concrete nature, the town that is. It is there where I feel safe, knowing that I do not risk crossing a snake’s way. But, in that moment, I felt what magic is. And thus, admit that nature is beautiful. And full of surprises.

Just like the one I was able to experience while in Montepulciano, Italy. It was dark and we were housed outside the city. I walked to get there and mistakenly took the light guiding us for the moon. But it was not. Thousands of fireflies were hovering around us, giving a slight humming noise. I realized, in that moment, that there had been a while since I last saw fireflies. It was when I was a child and summers in the city were not characterized by pollution. The fir outside the block of flats I was living was their favourite meeting point, for it was there where I would generally see them in large numbers.

And so it seems that pollution has gotten way stronger. Talking with a ten years younger colleague about all the above, I found out that she had never seen a firefly. And it got me thinking... when was the last time I saw a firefly? It’s been a while. Maybe that time with the blue firefly. But what about you? Can you tell me where can we find fireflies?