the importance of being me

i did it, i just turned 37 yesterday. somehow that entitles me to be a spring chicken with just one extra year in the mix before the start of the slow slide to 40. yes, because it seems that hitting the big 40 means you're old, and that many people advice to enjoy these few couple of years left to the fullest.

what is all this fuss about? if we agree that our enlived body is an essential part of our experience, we don't lose an essential part of ourselves by ageing. people die not of aging but of death – it seems absurd but it isn’t.

as my birthday approached, the most ricurrent comment i heard was 'oh, but you don't look your age at all, lucky you!'. or, when i joked about my years, by telling them i was 27 just to provoke, the common answer was 'if only you were!'.

well, i don't care! i don't want to look younger, i simply want to maintain my youth with intelligence and grace. and i'm pleased with my place in life. if i look back, i realize i overcame many many obstacles, which haven't ended yet, neverthless i keep fighting, conscoious that it's thanks to these obstacles that i am the person i am today.

thus, having a nice day on your birthday should be a must, because we don't get old, we just get more mature and prone to life and this is an event to be celebrated. we need to renew the pact with ourselves. the biggest changeling is being/accepting ourselves, no matter what!

°°°

so yesterday, since it was a school day for alice and al is away for the week (for the second year in a row on my day -argh!), i decided to stick to my motto that i only want to go where i'm loved and be rounded by people i care from now on. so i was out and about in a country i love, slovenia, and with people i adore (sandra and lenka).

i took a short walk first thing in the morning, in porto san rocco (muggia), we lived there for 4 months after moving here to friuli in 2007 and before finding a proper accomodation in trieste. it was +0C so i couldn't sit for long, but i had enough time to mentally revive our recent memories and take a few pics.

i drove to koper via a minor street afterwards, but scenery with all those lovely vineyards, to meet sandra at our favorite cafe near her working place. gosh, she spoiled me rotten with her gifts! look at t his!

after this moving meeting, i went to the beautiful town of piran, where lenka was waiting for me. we both had never visited the city walls, so we started our excursion on top of them.

as the town expanded, so did the walls towards the southeast, and included the new districts, namely those which were growing outside the walls. in the final phase of the expansion, at the beginning of the 16th century, the so-called third town walls embraced the entire peninsula. those were the ones we visited. their height is exceptional, denoting the town wallswere being adapted to the medieval type of defence.

the city walls offer a postcard view of piran, a town that has preserved the medieval layout with narrow streets and compact houses, which rise in steps from the coastal lowland into the hills and give the whole area a typical mediterranean look.

what a beautiful day indeed! lenka is a smart talkative lady, i relate to her a lot and we always spend a lovely time together when we meet. thank you for your beautiful scarf, darling. and thanks for being there, importantly you, for me too!