The People, Earth and Waters: Thanksgiving Ode to the Amalfi Coast ~ PART ONE

Welcome to PART ONE of my series on GRATITUDE and THANKSGIVING!

Take a moment to breathe and journey with me.  I offer you my reflections and images of the beauty and splendor from travel to a distant land.

Each part of this series will share my experience from the Amalfi Coast as they relate to the sections of Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. Let us begin and come together as one.

THE PEOPLE

We are grateful for our family, friends, neighbors, colleagues who accompanied us in spirit on this trip to Italy, who shared their excitement, interest, and love. We are thankful for the life and work that enabled us to take this trip. We are honored to conjure the memories and traditions of our parents and grandparents who once made Italy their home and lovingly shared their culture, language, and food with us. What was their life like to have picked up and courageously traveled to another country where the journey itself was a risk and their hopes may or may not be possible?

Music, stories, history, churches, relics, traditions of villages, food, and plants invoked memories from family and traditions in our past and present. Language expressed with emotion and signals brought us closer to those who came with us in spirit and before us in life.

We are thankful for the new friends we met. They brought such diversity of mind, body, emotions, and humor to our trip. We give thanks to all those who planned this trip, whose business it was to offer this trip, those who drove us by ferry, car, island taxi, boat, dinghy, vans, and airplanes. We thank those who fed us, directed us, welcomed and educated us with knowledge and passion.

We relish the Napoli boys and girls who were unabashedly themselves on a hot summer day and reminded us how to play, grow and seize the day!

Napoli's Boys by the Sea

THE EARTH

The Earth gives us all we need for life. We cannot forget to acknowledge her constant presence. We were always in touch with the earth and the sea on this trip….and clearly in another land far away from home. Cobblestone streets and winding pathways up hills invited us and opened our eyes. Towns, gardens, grottos, and archways dug deep into the earth were weaved to create life unknown to us. Cities and villages arranged and inhabited in corners, curves, hillsides, bridges, avenues and piazzas forming community and connections across the coast.

Naples, Ischia, San Angelo, Procida, Ravello, Positano, Amalfi, Sorrento are connected in a complex routing system and yet simple countryside. How did these citizens build their villages and homes amidst formidable hills and rocks so vast and high? We needed to look very close to see find cell phone and utility cables. We imagined the steps and wheelbarrows taken up hills and around corner to build what we saw.

We found flowers, trees, lemons, olives, capers, and more are growing, flourishing like God’s sculptures at every turn and on every view. Who put them there, on what journey did their seeds follow, and how is it that the soil welcomed them there for a home?  What is their story and purpose to those who live beside them? Glorious capers grow on a narrow street wall staking its claim along with pipes and graffiti, literally blooming where they were planted, or perhaps where they landed.

Capers growing in Ravello

THE WATERS

Thank you for Water which is life. Water was our constant companion in Amalfi. Our bodies were in water, on water, looking at water or eating beside water. The sea water was buoyant, warm and inviting. We felt light, supported, free and healed by the waters. Our limbs were softened and our muscles relaxed.

The saltwater baths and pools found in thermal spas are restorative, miraculous, and light. The Italians seem to understand we need people and the earth's elements and bounty to be healthy and remain that way. We were kept company by mountains, cliffs, towns overlooking water, and inviting places that snuggle close to water.

Water is part of Amalfi's everyday existence and livelihood. It can be taking recyclables by boat or welcoming the catch of the day or transporting fisherman to ports and boats beyond. The waters provide food, economy, work, exercise, sport, and baptism in daily life. Fresh water was our lifeblood during a time of unprecedented heat on the European continent. Sun and humidity accompanied us and yet helped us recognize our need and be restored by water and coolness.

We are thankful for the fountains clean and cool as a fresh water source, vendors with cool water either “naturale” or “frizzante,” water misted fans, frozen ices sprinkled with lemon or cool bitter and sweet sodas provided us relief and comfort. We were blessed with water in abundance.

Ischia Island View

May our minds be as one in this reflection of gratitude.