Friendly Friday turning point

Amanda is asking us about the turning points in our lives. I shall concentrate on one: the time when I changed countries, languages, loves, climates, dogs. And yet every moment is right for turning your life around.

I think it was Amanda’s photo Contemplating the choices that brought me back to that moment. It was seven years ago, I had gelato in Piran leaning against the warm wall, gazing across the sea to Italy on the other side, and I realised I needed to do something to change my life.

Not much later I received an invitation from that direction to visit Rome and amore. At that time he was not yet amore as I know him now. He was an internet friend. We hadn’t even seen each other on the screen yet, except in a few photos, and had never talked, only chatted in writing on and off for some three years.

One day I was reading Jeanette Winterson’s The PowerBook on my reading rock by the sea when the decision was reached to say YES to the 10-day visit. I describe this event in my open letter to Ms. Winterson that I posted on my first blog and tried sending to her through some forums but never got any word that she has read it. I hope it has reached her somehow.

In the letter I thank her for changing my story and yet it was I who said yes, to the invitation, to the change, to life. I recommend doing that, wholeheartedly.

This scene from the island of Kefalonia in Greece (of which Gavin writes at firehorseworld) is a good visual of how it felt, to jump into uncharted waters.

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These are the only two photos from there that remain. The others were deleted by accident. These were saved because I chose them to send out to friends as a New Year 2010 greeting. I might have jumped but I needed two more years to act.

The third key turning point came as I was on the train to leave Rome after those first ten days together. David Bowie counted down in the Termini station sound system and sang about leaving if I dare. I had to but was crying all the way to Bologna. The photo in the gallery taken from the train says it all. Sometimes you just know.

I was back in four months. Then he came to my city to spend New Year’s Eve 2013 together with the invitation to move over there to him. And in another four months we were living together in Tuscany. It will be six years in April.

Below are some moments that illustrate the start of our story. For the photos to make full sense you will have to read the captions.

Oh, and how did that first meeting go, you ask? First we realised that we didn’t understand each other. He had learned English by reading and writing it only. When it was time to listen to me, he didn’t recognise the words. And when he tried speaking it, I could only laugh. No wonder we’ve been having such a good time ever since. 😀

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  The gelato wall in Piran, Slovenia.

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  The wall once more, at dusk. A man with the blow-up tyre was passing. That is Italy over there, but this is east coast and I’m on its west coast now.

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  The reading rock! Right in the middle of the photo, the white one closest to the sea. When I got hot, I went for a swim. No long sandy beach in Piran. Croatia opposite.

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  There he is! Natural born Romano. This is such a Roman pose. They will NOT be taken for a fool.

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  At the Isola del Giglio beach on that first visit. He is writing about how even the bird came closer to observe my beauty. (I know!)

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  Going away, but not for long. Stars looked very different.

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  L’italiana. I felt very Italian on my return with new glasses from Rome.

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  In December I was back with this shirt.

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  The promise of things to come. 😉 How could I say no?

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  December light. Who wouldn’t wish to move to that? I’m not sure if he asked me yet then.

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  That was the ONLY time he walked with me to the beach, the whole less than 2 km of it. And in December! Drama!

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  In less than a month he came to my city Ljubljana for the first time. The sky knew something was up.

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  Cultural education. With poet Edvard Kocbek in Tivoli park. Note the little Edvard on the right.

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  Happy couple on the boat ride on the Ljubljanica river.

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  One of the biggest surprises was that he knew how to figure skate of all things. Even in reverse!

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  Then he wrote and signed a kind of contract for my parents. You know, about how serious he was. Roman people think of everything.

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  The first walk to the beach in April 2013 the next day after I arrived for good. Yield but not break.

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  And if you think about it, every day is a turning point. This is the view of my blog’s front page with the last bunch of posts. What did you miss?

For Friendly Friday Photo Challenge hosted by Amanda from Something to Ponder About