É Solo Un Trucco
June 2, 2014, I was in the Bradly International Terminal at LAX. It had recently opened – everything was new and clean. I was boarding a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt on my way to Venice.
The kindness of my German friend was allowing me an opportunity to be in Venice for two months. I stayed there until July 2, 2014. While I was there my daughter talked me into writing a blog about my experiences, which I did. I wrote 107 posts and developed 40 followers.
Now 6 years later I have decided to write again. The blog was on the “Tumblr” platform, but my daughter has talked me into developing my own website. My old writings were under the blog name “Il Vaporetto Di Fredric” in a nod to Il Vaporetto, which is the public transportation of Venice. Think of it as a bus on water. I was so taken with the public transportation. I was on the Vaporetto every day, it was a lovely way to move around the city. It is hard to believe that it has been six years since I last wrote but that is the way time travels—fast
I will write about some of the things that transpired in the past but honestly, it was on the whole not a great period for me and hard to focus on as it now appears to have been time squandered. I am going to focus on the present and the future. The goal is to write a complete post in Italian, but alas, I am a bit away from that. In the interim, I shall focus on the present and the future–neither of which I have any true understanding.
My new title is:
É Solo Un Trucco.
It’s only a trick.
My inspiration is from the movie La Grande Bellezza. Starring Tony Servillo as Jep Gambardella. This is a wonderfully artistic movie which follows Jep as he celebrates his 65th year. Jep and I are kindred spirits, but he has learned something I have not:
“The most important thing I discovered a few days after turning 65 is that I can’t waste any more time doing things I don’t want to do.”
I am still trying to embrace this as I review the last 6 years. The last thing I truly wanted to do was be in Venice on my own. Now, as I come to grips with the fact that there is probably more in back than in front for me I am working on the things I want to do. Because sadly I will not escape the end…
“This is how it always ends. With death. But first, there was life. Hidden beneath the blah, blah, blah. t’s all settled beneath the chitter chatter and the noise. Silence and sentiment. Emotion and fear. The haggard, inconstant flashes of beauty. And then the wretched squalor and miserable humanity. All buried under the cover of the embarrassment of being in the world, blah, blah, blah. Beyond there is what lies beyond. I don’t deal with what lies beyond. Therefore… Let this novel begin. After all its just a trick. Yes, it’s just a trick…”
This is how we leave Jep at the end of the movie and this is how I will attempt to take his guidance. Write about the present and look for the beauty. —It’s just a trick.
