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Shares
The noise of the plane seem to fade away as I sit with my eyes closed. The flight attendant securing the aircraft door and overhead bins, the sound of seat belts clicking as other passengers settle in their seats for the lengthy 10 hour flight back home as the powerful engine of the plane start up, all get further and further away as I reflect on the past few days spent in Italy’s capital city. I left to go on a Roman holiday a week ago, but really, I was running away. I was running away from a job that I despised, from children that were very much demanding of my time and from a devastating heartbreak that left me crushed. When I first stepped foot outside the airport and felt the warm sun on my face, I tried to remember that coming to Italy had always been a dream of mine. I tried to not let the numbness and gloom linger over me as I went off to explore all of Rome’s narrow, busy streets and crowded cafés. As a child, I had become absolutely obsessed with a pair of young twin child actresses that were popular at the time. One of the movies they had filmed was set in Rome, where they had visited the Trevi Fountain. Therefore, it was an absolute must of mine to also go visit this spectacular fountain I had seen so many times on the screen of my television set. On my second day in Rome, I embarked on the journey to find my way to it. After a tour bus ride and a long, long walk (thank goodness for GPS on my phone), I finally made it to Piazza di Trevi. I weaved my way through the crowds and got down to the side of the fountain and looked up in awe. It was so much more magnificent and imposing that I ever could have imagined. The heat from the sun was beating down on the crowd and as I sat on the edge of the fountain, I couldn’t help but reach in to touch the cool, clear water. That’s where I met her. She had long brown hair flowing down her back and a light, flowing sundress that made her look like she had no cares in the world. She had her camera in her hands and was taking a picture of a couple standing in front of her, her head thrown back and laughing at something they had said. She seemed to be everything I wanted to be; she looked so happy. We spent the rest of my holiday together and I could feel my smile get brighter and wider every day. My gloom had lifted and the problems back home felt so minimal to how they were when I first left them. We threw our coins in the Trevi Fountain (right hand over left shoulder of course) before heading off to lunch in a small, packed restaurant. I tried my first real gelato alongside her and now Canadian ice cream doesn’t taste the same. I had my first authentic Italian pizza one night over a candlelit dinner and now pizza at home will never be the same. For the next two days, we went shopping, ate pasta, dodged honking Vespas on the crowded city streets, visited the Colosseum and drank wine together until it was time for me to leave. I had never felt as light and free in my life as I have since I met her that day at the fountain. The sudden chime of the seatbelt sign being turned off brings me back to reality as I open my eyes and look confusingly around me. I realize that we are now airborne and that Italy is quickly fading behind me as we cruise across the Atlantic and back to real life. I settle in my window seat and look outside at the fading sunlight where I catch a glimpse of her staring at me through the reflection in the window and I smile back at her. The beautiful woman I met on that faithful day in Rome is not going anywhere. She is Me.