The Last And The First

It is my last day at Casa Lanzarotti. Tomorrow morning, I leave the crutches, I leave this farmhouse, I leave the chickens, I leave the cows, I leave the valley, and I leave my friends. Tomorrow morning I depart for Camezzo, a new farm, new livestock, new countryside, and I’m certain – new friends.

Still I am sad. I’ve never liked good-byes.

In the last few hours I’ve written and re-written my last few stories. Each one remains on my laptop unfinished as if defying the inevitable end of my Casa Lanzarotti journey. Like me, they’re reluctant to reach some concluding finale.

The story ideas now seem exhausted.

On Friday I had my last bread day. On Saturday I had my last clean-the-mouse-poop-in-the-lab day. On Sunday I had my last “free-to-just-be” day. I find comfort in routine and yet I know my life yearns for continued growth and experiences. It is not finished.

It is time to go.

Maria runs into the house from her morning chores crying “The sheep! The sheep!” I’ve heard this before. Only now, on this last day in Albareto, our pregnant sheep has her baby, correction, babies: twin black lambs. The mother cries her loud protective “BAH”; the first lamb cries his tiny confused “bah”; the second lamb cries his tiny confused “bah”; and Brigit cries her tears of emotions.

It is my last day at Casa Lanzarotti; it is our lambs’ first. Welcome my little friends; it is a good life.