09 Nov Under a Tuscan Sun
It was three summers ago. A summer that our kids showed us the resilience of childhood and taught us much about parenting. In a moment of temporary insanity, I had agreed to my husband’s suggestion of taking our 5 kids to 5 countries for 5 weeks on Eurail. The youngest had just turned 3. When we started our journey he was in the stroller and by the end of the 5 weeks, he was pulling it!
The stays were distributed between hotels and Airbnbs. Surprisingly it wasn’t the luxury hotel stays that the children remembered most…It was a farmhouse (without A/C) under a hot Tuscan sun.
They loved that you could climb in and out the windows of the one storied farm house. That there were secret attics and stairways. That they could pluck grapes from the front yard and eat it without washing it, or their hands! We walked most everywhere. The 3 year old tarried with his walking stick which seemed to inspire him to keep going. Rewards from the cherry trees on the way also helped.
If truth be told, the twenty-five minute walk into town was grudgingly accepted only because of the bribe of pastries at the end. It was delayed gratification at its best!
But, once in town, they exploded with the kind of energy that only children seem to have and enjoyed playing with the local bambini on the playground. It was their equivalent of sightseeing! (I wondered, “Weren’t they complaining that they were so exhausted on the walk?”)
The afternoons were too hot to play outside and in the absence of a TV, the family played cards together or watched the colors of nature pass by.
Our eldest daughter tried her hand in the kitchen with local produce.
I enjoyed playing with the local ingredients too. My favorite was Burrata which is a fresh Mozzarella with a creamy center. With a drizzle of olive oil, chopped Roma tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil and a generous sprinkling of black pepper, over a crostini, it disappeared in a hurry!
We ate outdoors under a moonlit sky overlooking the countryside with nothing more than each other to entertain (and annoy)! Simple pleasures, simply enjoyed.
As parents we have many expectations of our children. But, that summer they began to teach us that they each come wired differently and given the option of an unscripted experience they bloom in brilliant colors that we had never fathomed. They also showed us that they are quite resilient when pursuing their own interest. Our goal then may only be to challenge them with experiences that help them find what that is. Which, we find is quite challenging in itself!