Running Away to Italy

In other ways, I wish I could just leave my life for six months to a year and go live in the Italian countryside writing and learning Italian. It would be running away but at least it has the potential to be a peaceful running away with personal growth.

- LiveJournal post from June 28, 2007

See Lyndsey, it's like I knew one day I would read Eat, Pray, Love =)

I'm looking through old livejournal entries, sort of a checkup on what I was doing this time and a little later through the years. I came across the above. I am going to Washington D.C. at the end of the month to visit Lyndsey and hear Elizabeth Gilbert speak at the National Cathedral (none other than the author of Eat, Pray, Love, the non-fiction account of Elizabeth's year-long journey to find herself and spirituality. The first phase of the trip is Italy where she learns Italian.)

As I read the book, I wanted nothing more than to take a similar journey, to leave everything in my life behind for a time and become...better. It seems that it wasn't just inspiration garnered from the book -- it was something that I truly wanted even before I recognized it in the wonderful book....