While I know siesta is technically a Spanish word, in Italy, it's actually pretty common to work until early afternoon, then go home for a few hours and rest. Then, you go back to work until about 7 or 8 p.m.
Lately I've been feeling so burnt out. There are times in the middle of the day I'd like to just go home, turn off the lights, and just be. Or, I'd like to get a whole bunch of things done during the day that I can't do since I work a typical 8:30-5 job.
This week DH and I had a couple of pretty real conversations about where we want our lives to go. We disagreed a lot in terms of timing, but I have to understand that we do both want the same things. It's just hard to swallow that not everything may happen according to my plan, my timeline.
Which makes me think back to Paola. She and her husband were separated by an entire body of water for more than five years. I never had the chance to meet him because he lived in Sardinia, a large island off the west coast of Italy. He lived there because he had a business and wanted to provide for his family. Paola ran a small bookstore with her sister Rafaella in Florence. It wasn't much, but she enjoyed it. Also, Paola and her husband wanted Guilia to have a good education, and she was accepted into a fine arts high school in Florence. So, they separated.
Italians really value the family, which is evident from the sacrifices this one family made for their daughter (and inadvertently, their long-term plan). Living away from my husband is not something I would want to do in order to fulfill my life plan, or for him to fulfill his. But the Italians have somehow managed to create a work-life balance that works. Or at least appears to work.
I wonder what Paola's life plan was, or if she had one at all. Was moving away with her daughter part of that original plan? From what I can decipher from my meager Italian skills, my thought is no. They missed him -- Papa -- terribly.
I try not to overplan, but I can't help it. I'm the kind of person that once I get what I want, I am already thinking about the next thing. It's hard for me to just be, and appreciate what I have.
A siesta, for me, right now, would be a sure waste of time. My mind races with downtime. I think of the worst. I dream of the best. I settle on what is, in my opinion, mediocrity. But I'm trying to find the value in just being. Breathing. Seeing. Smelling. Loving. And maybe doing all these things will help me see that whatever my plan turns out to be, it will be okay.
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