Different streets

me and my bike

I have been looking at old photos I have of me back when I lived in Florence in 2005-06.  I was in utter infatuation with the city - her streets, her stench, her light, her soul. I was like a woman in love.

I don't feel this way about the city anymore. Damascus makes my heart race now as does Istanbul. But I can still remember how I felt and tomorrow when I go back for yet another vet-focussed visit, I am going to try and conjure that feeling deep in my heart.

One thing I love though about this picture of me back then is the fact that I was riding my bike through the dank, dark streets of Florence and in another city far away Three Paw was living her own life. We hadn't yet met but we were both living and loving and surviving our own stories.

So many different good and terrible things had to happen in both our lives to bring us together.  And perhaps if I had turned left one day on my bike instead of right we would never have met and that, perhaps, would have been the greatest tragedy of all.

three paw and her bike