It is two days after my 64th birthday. This past year, like the one preceding it, has been hard for everyone , not least because of the ongoing pandemic situation. We have been locked down, let out, and then locked down again. During a window of opportunity back in the summer, it was great to watch my two daughters travel, with my youngest daughter´s aunt and Godmother, on a short trip to Italy.
This Christmas appeared a book of wonderful photographs. A memento of their Great Escape. They are growing up. And fast.
Thinking back, and connecting more of my loose cables, I recall that Venice was the very first overseas destination I visited as a young architectural student. Onto the train at Waterloo, a sea sickness blighted voyage across the ocean, another train , and then at last to step off at Venice station into a dream-city under a blazing blue sky.
And not a smart phone or computer in sight.
This year Elena and Stella were there too.
My one wish for them is that their voyage of discovery may continue and that this world of opportunity and growth remains open to them and their peers, and not only to the privileged few.
And me ? I have opened a new file with the label ´last phase´. My life here in quiet Upper Austria may be in limbo, but things are cooking in my particular kitchen. Like all good things, Phase 2 has come to an end, and is transitioning into something new.
So where and what next ? . This year I received a clue from the most unexpected of sources. A seed was planted , a thought and a vision which resonates. To be amongst people looking for the same things, and asking the same questions. I know what makes me happy now, what I can offer the world, and with the kind of people I want to spend my remaining time.
Music, laughter, conversation . Friends.
JRC December 2021
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