Is it actually paradise to grow up in paradise? . I’m spending a few days in Corsica. It’s stunning, it’s home. My family lives here. It’s small, slow, beautiful. Corsicans are proud and warm. Food is delicious. I LOVE coming back, taking it in, reminiscing & romanticizing my childhood. Some of you have been asking me – why not move back? . The truth is, all I wanted when I was a kid was to leave. I had a love-hate relationship with my island. . One part of me loved being the queen of my natural kingdom. We would fish, hike, swim, our village was a giant playground. The place was so small we were free to do whatever we wanted as long as we came back for meals. As I grew up I had my first kisses, hangovers and jobs here. . I was a dreamer and nature & freedom were a perfect background for my imagination. . There was this, and then there was the other part of me, who wanted nothing more than to discover the world. As I grew up summers weren’t paradise anymore, with all the family hard at work at our restaurant. I saw limited options for my future. I wanted to meet the fascinating people I saw in The Face. OMG get out!!! Something in me didn’t fit in. I needed more spaciousness to let my heart grow. “Who I was” was too clearly defined here. I needed to touch and feel other cultures & possibilities. . I started traveling on my own at 14. At 16 I did my first solo trip to LA. I remember thinking Venice was SO COOL. Ah! No idea I would live there one day. . I’ll never know what pushed me to go settle on the other side of the world – but it was in me since I was a child. . Today I still have a profound connection to nature, a deep bond with my island, and I am proud, warm and a liiiiittle bit slow like a true Corsican – but I also love my American lifestyle and my friends from all over the world. . Paradise means living the fullest expression of ourselves, even if worlds away from home. Its knowing the secret to loving well is to love at the right distance. Paradise is in our hearts! ? . . . ? taken on the heights of Girolata, the circular stone field is an “aire à blé”, where the ancients would work the grains. Looks like a sacred place, no? Prbly is!!! ?
6 years ago by
