Take This Wine and Drink With Me

Thanks Becky for the title on this one! For the last and final day in the Cinque Terre the three of us had the same thing in mind so decided again to spend the day together. Our plan, go back to the best beach we saw on the hike, the beach in last village of Monterossa, and do nothing. A great plan if I might say so myself. So with that decision made we hopped on the train to Monterossa, found a spot on the beach and did nothing for about four hours. After a few naps and a beer we decided to find a restaurant to have a late lunch and reminisce about our time in the Cinque Terre. We decided on a nice spot overlooking the water that had a decent price, but soon discovered that once again the food had been micro waved. Such a bummer that in such a beautiful place, in a country that is known for its food, we were only able to find sub-par meals. To be honest I can find better Italian food in China town, but, as I have said before, the company and the setting made up for it, not that that is an excuse for the people who own and work in these place to serve shit food. Anyway, Becky, Tom, and I were not about to let another flavorless, micro waved meal ruin our vacation as we finished our carafe of wine and hopped back on the train to Riomaggiore. Back at the apartment we showered and headed out with a bottle of wine and made our way down to our secluded beach to drink, talk, and watch the full moon set over the water. We must have sat for about four hours pondering the purpose of life, the joys of traveling, and the beauty of meeting perfect strangers that can instantly become your new best friends. As we sat on the beach, with the full moon making its way to the horizon, Becky made a comment that would change the direction of our conversation completely… “Where else in the world can you experience this?” Her question prompted a response that made everything so clear. “Anywhere, but it is not anywhere that everything in the universe aligns itself so that people like the three of us can be sitting on a beach to experience it and have the connection that we do.” Tom and Becky agreed with me and we continued our conversation about life, where we have been, and where we were going, but not in the normal backpacker set of four questions that I mentioned before. Our conversation was more about the things that we have struggled with in life, the things we continue to struggle with, and the struggle of deciding what to do with our futures. To do this day I must say that that night was and always will be one of the highlights of my trip. To make things even better, shortly after we parted the following day I received a letter from becky stating that I had changed her life and that she was fortunate to have met me and shared that time together. I still have not found the time to give a proper response to that letter (something I am very regretful of) but when I read it a tear came to my eye and a happiness filled my soul to know that I had affected someone’s life in such a way, and even more so because sharing that moment with them had affected my life in exactly the same way. I had been doubting if I wanted to continue my journey and the words that we shared that night reminded me of why I was on this journey in the first place. That is really the story of the Cinque Terre for me. It is not where you are in the world, what you see, or what you do that makes a moment, but rather, it is those that you have around you to share a moment with that can define how you look at where you are in the world, what you see, and what you will do with the rest of your life that makes the difference. Tom and Becky… Thank you for helping me to find myself again and remember why we are here on this earth, and why we must always face the challenges that this life brings us. Take this wine and drink with me as we live the life we choose and embrace the challenges that come with it. Cheers.