Lately I've been lamenting the fact that we live "so far out" in the country, so far removed from the life of the city, from the cradle of civilization that is the centro storico. In reality we are only about 15 kilometers away from the historic city center, but it has just recently seemed so.very.far.away. Intolerably distant. Really, unless you reside in the thick of it, inside the ancient walls where pedestrians and bikes are the norm, then you are too far away from it.
I suspect the thoughts stem partly from the fact that we've kept up a frenzied pace since the start of August. And then Wednesday after school, I had a revelation, of sorts, or perhaps just a reminder. It was the first evening in a long time that all of the kids were out back together.
It was in the moment that I walked out to check on Young One and found eight children and one leash-free dog in and around the sand pit that I was reminded of exactly why we chose our house in our paese, our house so.very.far.away, our house with our gaggle of neighborhood children, the one located in the remote hills of the province. (You know, 15 km away from civilization.) Exactly. At this time, the paese works best for our family. So sorry I forgot that for a bit . . . I have been officially snapped back into reality.
I know what you mean! 15 minutes outside the city in Europe seems far; especially with gas prices being so high. We live 45 minutes out of the big city. Thankfully, my husband can work more and more out of our home, but every Saturday when I make the drive to German school I curse the fact that we live so far out. We have to live out so far to get good schools and cheaper house prices. Sending children to private school cost 15k and houses are over a million in Atlanta.
ReplyDeleteTheir play looks lovely!
ReplyDeleteI wish our little Topses had such good fun playing out in the streets. Alas, though there are plenty of children in our village, not many actually play nicely.
So, wrong neighbourhood for us (at 40+ kilometres from a decent size city).
Nicki
compared to your and flowtops distances, I suddenly don't feel that far away any more! I'm a mere 10 kilometers from town (30 from a small city), but there are no kids here, though plenty of dogs!
ReplyDeleteBut there are plenty of things between here and the big city, AND we have a small grocery just steps from our door.
ReplyDeleteIt's just that when days are long and this seems to be the place we come to just to eat and sleep, only to wake early the next morning for a repeat . . . it seems so isolating.