Like most seasoned women in NYC, having lived many stories strewn with incidental tales of love, I still needed to be convinced. This was undeniably a request by my latent realist who had apparently awoken. Our time had ended. The memories of him lingered sweetly on my mind, from the last farewell merely days and blocks away from our first hello. He had promised to return, soon, to continue our story. My confident and curious eyes found in him the same sincerity I had initially welcomed.
I was often told to act passively and allow the man to prove himself. Needless to say I am not one to follow the rules, but I did distance myself, as far away as an ocean, all the while the ‘hopeful optimist’. Is there any other way to be?
From the first drink that night in March we spoke with a unique fluidity about traveling experiences and the beautiful mysteries of life. Simply, it felt easy. I felt well and warm with this Italian man. He was at once engaging, funny, kind and adoring. But the characteristic that appealed most to me was that he was genuine. This I knew from his eyes.
Two days later we met for dinner. We were both filled with an eager anticipation and a feeling of knowing. It is often not about what is said but what is felt.
For each of us there exist many loves, but only one ‘true love’. Or so my experience has taught me.
As soon as I met him I knew. There was something in his smile, or was it his welcoming eyes. Perhaps it was the warmth that emanated from his entire being. I felt immediately at peace in his presence.
The meeting of our souls took place on the corner of Prince and Crosby streets in New York City. I was enroute to yoga, or perhaps I was subconsciously seeking another form of internal peace. Little did I know what had in the chance moment captured my gaze, soon to be my heart. It was in that moment that I met with my great love. The one for whom you search your entire life (those of us who in fact believe there exists an ideal love). I did just so, living in NYC for 12 years and traveling the world for 13 months…but our paths were not yet meant to cross, until that fortuitous day in mid-March.
As the story goes, our eyes spoke followed by a short exchange of smiles mingled with words. I quickly learned that he was Italian, in search of shoes (and a woman to walk in them with?), and he lived in Paris. His days in NYC were limited as he was soon returning home. We arranged a rendezvous as time was of the essence.
One would think to run into a handsome Italian man living in Paris would lead to a beautiful love story. (Those non-romantic, jaded skeptics would sense danger and run in the opposite direction). Well in fact, it does. Falling in love however, takes time. In this romantic tale, 6 weeks to be exact.
My final destination is paradise. I am living in a cabana on the Caribbean shores of Tulum. Falling asleep to a cacophony of waves and waking to a turquoise sea. Mornings of yoga and diving in the reefs and underground caves of the cenotes, afternoons spent walking the tranquil beaches, reading the books of others as I write my own…simply and beautifully detached from the world. With scarce electricity, the stars illuminate the night sky. Time ceases to exist, this privilege of time that is mine for moments longer. My mind is filled with thoughts as I recollect the grand adventure that has been my life for so many days and nights. The perfect place in which to find respite as one chapter closes and another begins…
I stopped for the weekend in Playa del Carmen, a touristy spot known for its limitless social escapades. Here I met with Magda and her friends from Krakow who were enjoying the life of hedonism under the Mexican sun. Evelyn too was here and along with her cohorts from NYC we hit the town for a night of innocent debauchery.
.jpg)
The island of women. This is where Sooji and I indulged in a last reunion after many months of solo travel, to recount our moments created together and apart. Upon these blissful shores I said goodbye to my dearest travel companion as she returned to NYC, to another life and time. I bask in the sun for my final 2 weeks…