Rome Is Out There

I barely left my high perch today. Realizing that tomorrow is a travel day, I stayed in the hotel. After all, it is only two steps to the breakfast room from my door, so I managed that. And to hang on the terrace while Paola and her friend cleaned my rooms. Thank the Great Spirit, more toilet paper was installed. Things were down to napkins found in the bottom of my purse, and little packets of mercy tissue left by last night's guests as they filed out the door.

There was just the right amount of food left over in the mini-frigo to make a lunch and a dinner. Water and wine, great food, toilet paper, a clean room, a sunny terrace---who needs to go anywhere? All right, I know Rome is out there, but I'm coming back in two weeks for a long session. The day involved phone calls to friends in Italy, a nap, figuring out the connection to AOL, writing, confirming my shuttle pick-up in the morning---and finally, at sunset, a call from Shannon and Colleen.

While Cheryl was even then winging over the Atlantic, Colleen and Shannon told me about their day in Cefalu, and how at that moment they were sitting on a tiny balcony, sharing a bottle of very good wine, watching an interesting sunset over the sea. I took my cell phone out onto the terrace, where the light was still glowing on various ochre walls and my snippet of the dome of San Pietro was a purple silhouette against a pink sky.

Ultimately, I cancelled a dinner engagement for tonight, feeling the tug of a still-real jet-lag. I bow to the change of time zones, to my weary self. The body is tired, the mind is in a Bernini style ecstasy. And that's pretty impressive.