Hello friends! This Roman-adopted object in motion has finally found time to update you on the last several weeks of my activities. It’s been a productive two months. I’m happy to report some good news, but you must wait until the end to find out what it is. I hope you enjoy this short and newsworthy post.
I am the poster child of an object in motion
But before I get to the good part, I want to say a few words about this idea of being an object in motion.
We are all objects in motion. Our lives are vibrating constantly as billions of individual objects in motion–living, bumping, and colliding with each other along our way. Sometimes, collisions are pleasant, while others, not so much. Life is a series of human collisions that lead us to the right community of family, friendship, or love that slows us down a bit. Those collisions force us to stop for a while to rest, learn, and live.
After my experience of buying a house in France, in what my friend Joe called a pandemic-forced “shotgun wedding” of sorts when COVID was holding a gun to the world’s head, I collided with Rome and found peace the last several years. My intent was never to make Rome my permanent home but a holding position until I could find somewhere that would allow me to feel like I did so many years ago—that place where I would have the sensation of belonging.
I’m now manifesting another collision with something that might put this object in motion to rest again, at least for a little while.
Is it better to be the stick or the rock in the river
When I left California, I chose to be like a stick in the river. I would allow the current to take me wherever it wanted to go. I traveled on a whim, moved from one place to another, and collected incredible experiences. However, what I haven’t collected is a sense of local community.
I continue to care for and nurture my network of friends around Europe and America instead of making deep relationships where I live. It may not be a bad thing. It’s just something that has kept this object in motion in search of something missing.
My head is full of questions and empty of answers. I believe that I should be more like a stick in the river instead of a rock. I will flow and see where the river takes this object in motion.
And we’re on the move again
When we talked in my last post, I told you I decided to leave Rome after my rental contract finished next February. I would begin my search in Liguria, the western region of Italy bordering France.
This April, I packed the car with my suitcase and Sofia and drove north. Our journey took us from Rome to Florence and then west through the historical Tuscan towns of Lucca and Pisa.
I decided to stay in a seaside hotel northeast of Lucca for the night. My hotel had a view of the Tuscan Apuan Alps and their famous carved white slopes. It was the area where the sculpting marble of Carrara was quarried to make Michelangelo’s masterpieces.
The next day, I drove towards Genoa into Liguria. After four hours, Sofia and I arrived in Sanremo. It’s a seaside town famous for its annual music festival where Italy’s top performer is crowned and sent on to compete in the annual Eurovision Music Festival.
If you’re a movie buff, you may remember that Sanremo was also the town where Dickie Greenleaf met his demise after Tom Ripley bludgeoned him with a boat oar in The Talented Mr. Ripley. I promise you that I have no intentions of getting into a rowboat with a 20-something Matt Damon lookalike, no matter how good-looking he is.
Ligurian house-hunting adventures
My friend Linda from France joined me, and we spent a week driving from village to town to village again. We looked at small villages like Dolceacqua and San Lorenzo al Mare and visited houses in Sanremo and Imperia. We both became more familiar with Liguria, and it started to feel like a comfortable place.
After Linda left, I stayed on for another week and went deeper into my explorations. I spent more time enjoying Liguria. I rented a bike and rode up and down the famous Ligurian “pista ciclabile.” It’s a seaside bike path of 24 kilometers on the former railway tracks of Trenitalia. It was an incredible experience to go from village to village on a bicycle, stopping at small Ligurian gems that dot the Italian Riviera coastline.
I’ve included some of the photos from our time in Liguria. Although they evoke the beauty of Liguria, the real magic can only be found in person. If you want to read more about the history of Liguria and the Italian Riviera check out this great article from Italia.it about Liguria.
An object in motion collides and who knows what will happen next
I continued my real estate explorations seeing another ten or more places. Nothing gave me that “knowing” feeling you have when you find the right home.
On the last day, I took a chance and saw an apartment in Sanremo just outside the city center but close enough to bicycle quickly into the village along the pista ciclabile.
The apartment was one of three in a newly restructured palazzo. All three apartments were for sale, but I wanted to see the top floor. It was the smaller of the three, but what it lacked in space, it made up for with an incredible terrace that overlooked the sea.
This was the latest collision moment. I knew this was the place. I wasn’t sure how the space would work, but it felt like a blank canvas where I could create something new.
The realtor and his father, Tommaso and Giuseppe, met me at the apartment. They were genuinely intrigued by this American’s desire to make this apartment his permanent home. They had expected to sell this apartment as a vacation home to someone from Milan, Turin, or maybe France. The fact that a middle-aged American would be in Sanremo and plan to live there all year was interesting to them.
After the visit, I told Tommaso that I would be making an offer when I returned to Rome, and he should prepare the “proposta di acquisto” or the proposal to buy.
I returned to Rome and made an offer. It was accepted by the building owners a few days later without much negotiation.
It’s a good feeling…grateful but different
While America is celebrating Independence Day the first week of July, I will have my independence celebration in Liguria, signing papers and receiving the keys to my new home. It all happened by simply putting the collision into effect.
I can’t say that buying a home now has the same incredible feeling of what it felt like in California so many times. I don’t have that sense of another dream waiting to be fulfilled. It simply feels like a natural progression in a series of steps. There is far less fanfare and more practicality. I want to feel more, but I’ve become quite pragmatic in this phase of life.
At 53 years old, I don’t want to continue the expensive endeavor of buying and selling homes to find happiness. However, if this object in motion has to collide a few more times in different places to find a home, I’ll accept that. The key is to remember to gratefully and gracefully float with the collisions in life.
Thank you for following along. I hope you enjoyed this latest version of Luke colliding with life as much as I enjoyed sharing it. If you haven’t subscribed, and don’t want to miss another update, please enter your email in the box below. I look forward to another post after I have the keys in hand. It will be a great story about enjoying the summer and making the most of my never-ending collisions with life.