The Quest for Italian Citizenship Begins!

Here it is! The first of many requests for documents. As I handed over the completed packets to David, the postal clerk, I took a deep breath and said a little prayer. I told David what I was up to while I was filling in the money orders. He thought it was pretty cool. When he took the envelopes from me, he offered words of encouragement, hoping for me that I would find what I need when my self-addressed stamped envelopes return.

I have to say that as I drove out of the Post Office parking lot, tears came to my eyes as I realized I had just taken the very first real step toward our goal, our Big Adventure. Today's first little step will eventually lead to us, arm in arm, taking in the passeggiata in the piazza.

Mile Markers Along the Road

Yesterday, we celebrated The Man's 50th birthday. He asked to keep it low key, so I did. The guys at the office did not.




In the evening as we walked to our favorite sushi spot for dinner, I asked him if he felt any different. He said he did not, for which I'm glad. To me, age is merely a number. However, that number serves as a mile marker along the road and reminds us that we are getting closer to the end of our journey. I'm not being morbid. I see that number more as a reminder to get up, get going, LIVE! I get an overwhelming sense of urgency. DO IT! DO IT NOW!!

The two biggest factors in retirement, as I see it, are health and finances. If we aren't healthy and don't keep ourselves in good shape physically, we aren't going to fair too well on those cobbled streets and we won't get to live The Big Adventure in the way we envision it for ourselves. On the financial side of the house, we keep calculating and recalculating the financial aspect of The Big Adventure. I'm constantly searching for every bit of information that I can find that will give us a realistic picture of our ability to retire at the earliest possible moment (which is, as of this writing, 41 months 6 days from today) or are we going to have to/need to work a few more years. We are both genetically blessed with longevity. Will our pensions plus the amount of money we have saved 41 months 6 days from now be enough to comfortably sustain us for, oh say, the next 30 years?

The Man was 22 and I was 18 when we first met. We've been married for almost 28 years now. We've spent all those years on the treadmill of life, working and raising our sons. Our two sons are grown and on their own now. The way I see it, we are on our own now, too, SO LET'S GO! I dream of the day that neither one of us has to wake up to an alarm clock. The day when we can spend our time together doing what WE want to do; when we can walk those cobbled streets together, get a caffe, walk through the market for our groceries for the day, take long walks through the countryside, maybe go for a bike ride, explore our new surroundings, watch the sunset on Italian hills...just live out the rest of our days together on our Big Adventure. The mile markers are telling me it's time to jump off the highway and take the scenic route.

Happy Birthday, baby. I love you.

What We've Learned So Far

I read a lot of blogs written by others that have gone before us and expat forums searching for information to guide us along the way, hopefully, smoothly. And maybe avoid as many bumps in the road as possible. A common refrain from everything I've read is LEARN THE LANGUAGE! So many people have pointed out how much easier it is to make the transition when you can communicate with the locals. Hence, the reason we are the proud owners, and users, of Rosetta Stone Italian!

A question I see posed by those who are in the early stages like we are is how do you decide where you want to settle? How does one "pick their town?" The choices are overwhelming. Every town is adorable! The only really meaningful bit of guidance that I've run across is, if you don't have a car, then find a place large enough to have access to mass transit. Brilliant idea! That makes perfect sense. At the same time, we don't want to live in a big city and/or a tourist destination. My mom lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The population there is about 66,000. That's plenty big enough for us, so that number marks our "top end." We want a place big enough to offer a variety of restaurants, bars and shops, but not so big the town becomes impersonal.

I've also noticed several people have mentioned the terrain - as in, living in a hilly town and having to walk those hills can get old, especially, as we grow older. Another good point.

Keeping these things in mind, there are still a ton of towns within these parameters to choose from. So we've eliminated everything north of Florence has being cost prohibitive as well as a bit too cold for our blood.

I stumbled upon a website touting the medieval villages of Abruzzo. I suddenly had an epiphany! Why not research towns that fall into our already established criteria to narrow down the numbers even more!? Read about a town, see what it has to offer as far as history, museums, festivals, food. We LOVE history! The Man minored in ancient history in college. Ok, I realize that there really isn't such a thing as a new town in Italy, but some places just have more history, more historical significance, more lore, than others. Meh...maybe I'm splitting hairs. But, hell, it only has to make sense to us.

In the end, all the expat forums recommend renting a place in a town of your choosing, test it out for a bit, and, if it isn't ticking all your boxes, move to another town on your list and test that out. That's definitely the plan for us. We just need to narrow our list down to about a dozen and go from there...

So far, the ones that have made our list are:

Penne, Pescara, Abruzzo

Capestrano, L'Aquila, Abruzzo

Pratola Peligna, L'Aquila, Abruzzo

Sulmona, L'Aquila, Abruzzo

Ascoli Piceno, Ascoli Piceno, Marche



Tune in later and we'll see just how well the "scientific approach" works out.

And so it begins!

Overcoming Fear and Self-Intimidation

There must be stages one goes through when making a massive life changing decision. For me, it's goes something like this:

Stage 1 - massive amounts of enthusiasm!

Stage 2 - research and investigation

Stage 3 - fear of the details

Stage 4 - come up with a different idea that's less scary!

That's kind of what has happened over the last, oh, almost eight months. We started out crazy with excitement at the idea of moving to Italy. I, the researcher in the family, began reading everything I could get my hands on hoping to learn all the fine details of such a move - obtaining a residency visa, learning the language, determining where to live, cost of living, on and on. The more I learned, the more I began to what if myself to death, and the more I began fear the whole idea. I made a concerted effort to "redirect" The Man toward safer, easier options. Of all those safer, easier options, none of them felt right. I was trying to sell us something we didn't want to buy. In the end, here we are right back at square one. Come hell or high water, our butts are going to Italy!

I didn't come back around to the idea entirely on my own. I had a bit of help along the way. I'd like to thank Salena at The Daily Rant (my first follower!), and Michelle at Bleeding Espresso for being at the right place at the right time with their words of encouragement and inspiration! Thank you, ladies! For documenting that the dream IS possible and we aren't the only crazy people, Bryan at 2 Italy, Valerie at 2 Baci in a Piñon Tree, and Susan at Americans in Umbria - Thanks for blazing the trail!

And, finally, I'd like to thank Mark Twain. He's been on my refrigerator for years. His words serve to inspire me more now than ever -

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore.

Dream.

Discover.

– Mark Twain

15 July 2011

It all began with an episode of House Hunters International...

We are pretty much Type A kind of people.  Most everything we do is planned.  On occasion we'll throw caution to the wind and do something spontaneous....like the time we were driving back to Tampa from Ft. Bragg NC where we welcomed home our eldest son from Afghanistan.  On the ride home, we got all crazy and decided we'd stop and spend the night in Savannah GA.  Yep, just like that.  A couple of crazy kids, we are!  We had a fantastic stay at the Marshall House, the oldest hotel in Savannah, and enjoyed an unbelievable meal at a restaurant on the river.  Oh the ambiance!!  That crazy moment in the car lead to fond memories that we'll keep forever. 

We can probably count on two hands (or less) the number of times we've ever done something like that.  Suffice it to say, we are ROUTINE kind of folks.  Operating outside our routine, our comfort zone, takes planning on our part.  It takes a conscious effort.  I keep a magnet on the refrigerator that says "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."  It serves as a reminder to us to stop doing the same old, same old.  With our sons grown and on their own and retirement rushing at us, it was time to get crazy!  Do something adventurous!  Something totally outside our norm!

So back to House Hunters International....  The Man and I watched an episode where a couple from the UK, Michael and Talie, were looking for a 2-bedroom home in Abruzzo.  That's all it took. Done! Sold!  We're there!  We are totally head over heels in love with the idea of moving to Italy! 

Now five weeks later, we've had time to look into the not so fun stuff....extended visas, taxes, housing, car ownership, international health insurance....and on and on.  At minimum, this venture is going to be a bit daunting.  I remind myself, "Just because something is hard, that's not an excuse not to do it." (I collect inspirational phrases.  I use them like ski poles.....pushing forward and steering myself in the right direction.....especially when I want to "shy-out" - turn and go the other way.)

We have 6 years before I retire and we take the big leap.  In the meantime, we have joined several expatriot fora and are learning one word of Italian a day.  Eventually, we will either enroll in classes or invest in Rosetta Stone.  The expat fora are a wealth of information provided by warm, wonderful people who are already living la dolce vita.  We've already established an email friendship with Pat From Idaho and his wife, who are two years away from packing their bags, and trade hopes, dreams, anxiety, and information.  We hope to one day share a glass of wine with them as we watch the sun set on the olive groves.

This is the beginning of our journey.  We don't know where we will find ourselves down the road.  For now, we are prisoners digging our tunnel....hoping to eventually escape our comfort zone.

Ci vuole fortuna!