Envy. What other emotion can describe this feeling? There are humans who live this experience every day. They are a chosen few. Why could we not have been born to this place? Why could we not have found it before our 60th year when life’s mold has already been cast? We were then, and remain, simply envious of the Tuscan way of life. Along this journey we met many a Tuscan whose goal it was to share this place, its culture and cuisine with us –– to teach us how they take sustenance from the land, and return it with every cycle of the seasons. They care enough to show us their given way of preserving nature while applying a bit of artistic liscence at the same time. If we could only learn and return to our own corners of the world and take up this practice. Their way of living has worked well for thousands of years actually –– it is a learned thoughtfulness unparalleled.
It is dusk. Walk among the Tall Trees. A royal species –– this Italian Cypress. They stand elegantly in respect of this Paradise on Earth. Some now centuries old, Tall Trees were planted by the Tuscans to celebrate the way home, to mark vineyard, crop and grove and just simply, to be creative. They line the rolling hills and farmed patchwork to the horizon like Ceasars ancient legions marching single file in defense of the land… and life itself. Let the Tall Trees take your breath away. It is then that one will feel the sense of envy – if only for a moment, because down deep you want to live like a Tuscan, you wish you were, a Tuscan. Push reality aside as long as you can and live in this moment. Revel in it. Put its memory in a special place in your heart –– because you will depart. You will return to your world, your responsibilities, your obligations, your existance. Because, yes, you love your own way of life. But still, you’ve realized you were not among the chosen ones for a life in this place, this Paradise.
You have left friends here, made in only fractions of time –– where they shared more with you than you did with them. They will be missed. You will try to stay connected, but time fades even the most special of memories. You will recollect. You will look longingly at the imagery you captured. You make plans to return. You must go back. Life is to short to stand among the Tall Trees only once in your time on earth.
And alas, you will come to realize there will always be, deep down in your heart, an envy of life… in Paradise.
Inspirations in Light and Color 