What do you think at the end of your day?
The Italian poet Dante (1265-1321), wrote in the Purgatory volume of his Divine Comedy, “L’ora che volge al desio e ai naviganti intenerisce il core” (The hour that makes one turn to longing and softens the heart of the seafarers). I live in London, a city with the longest twilight among the places I have lived. I am lucky enough to be able to sit at my desk and have a river view. That leads to many a day when the twilight makes my mind wander, and I wonder about many things.
The magic hour often brings amazing light, and I have taken many photographs of Canary Wharf in various lighting conditions. Frequently, I share them with my closest friends and family members who live elsewhere. The message that I send with the photo is a simple ‘Good Night’. However, the image is a collateral result of reflecting.
I have decided to keep my Substack free. However, if you decide to support my work, you can ‘buy me a coffee’ a one-off tip by clicking on this link, or you could buy one of my books (the Amazon link is in the caption of the image at the end of this post) or keep reading my posts, it is entirely up to you.Unusual river traffic interrupts whatever I am doing and gets me thinking, even when I did not plan to dedicate time to look back at my day. The best results happen when I just let my mind wander. I am a Jewish parent of four. Of course, I end up thinking of my children. I wonder where they are and what they do. Their age range is such that it is safe to assume they are leading busy lives, although I hope my daughters find a way to pause the pressure of the early steps of their demanding careers and have some fun.
I also think about my life. I have many great memories, and I am very proud of the way I have overcome the source of the bad ones. If I look back at the fourteen-year-old me, I can honestly say that I have 75% of what I wanted, which is more than many people can say.
I have always hated being an only child. I thought it was a life sentence for loneliness. Some challenging moments in my life (mainly associated with my parents) proved me right. However, life has been very generous to me. I have several people I consider my ‘non-DNA family’. Life brought me 11 ‘siblings’ and many close friends scattered all over the world (I had to count three times to make sure I did not leave anybody out.). Not to mention an aunt who is only 10 years older than I am, whom I have always considered my big sister. At the end of the day, when I look at the river, the darkening sky, and the lights of Canary Wharf, I may be on my own, but I never feel alone. I had the privilege of having met exceptional people in my life, and I had great role models. So, whatever happens during the remains of the day will never change that.
That does not mean that every day ends in an idyllic way, on the contrary, most days, the end is filled with things I did not do, hopes and concerns about my children (I am an Italian Jewish parent after all, worrying comes natural. Sometimes I even create reasons to be concerned when nothing comes to mind). However, even when I am mad at myself, the 14-year-old me reminds me I had a great life.
Do you have any rituals at the end of your day? Let me know in the comments.
Self-Publishing – Which Print On Demand platform?
The book “Strictly Self Publishing” is moving forward more slowly than I expected, maybe because it is not my main focus. Meanwhile, if you are interested in figuring out which Print on Demand platform is better for you, send an e-mail to meettheauthor@stagni.net to receive the free pdf.
Venice Gold out on July 22nd
The third novella in the series “Rachele Modiano Mendes, the early years” will be out on July 22nd. It will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstone, and Kindle Unlimited.
I have decided to keep my Substack free. However, if you decide to support my work, you can ‘buy me a coffee’ a one-off tip by clicking on this link, or you could buy one of my books (the link is in the caption of the last image below) or keep reading my posts, it is entirely up to you
N.B. I was not aware that Booklinker required registration. I thought it was a universal link for my books. Please accept my apologies. I hope to find another universal linker that does not require registration.
