This piece was prompted by a quote from the late Thich Nhat Hanh:
“Because you are alive, everything is possible.”
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“Here’s how I imagine it,” Ricky says. We’re talking on a screen with 6,000 miles between us. “You move to Italy and settle into your own little stone house. I head over to Paris to pick up Eddie, and we get on a train to meet you in Italy.”
Eddie lives in London; Ricky is in Berlin.
“Why Paris?” I ask. Ricky can’t stand Paris. Dog shit and rude waiters. Those are his main complaints.
“I don’t know. Because I want to meet him when he arrives on the Chunnel?”
“Okay.”
“We take the train to Rome, and then transfer to wherever you are in Italy.”
“That’s a long train ride,” I say, knowing it’s over 11 hours. “Why not rent a car?”
“This is my fantasy, okay?” he says, a little annoyed. “In your fantasy, you can rent a car.”
“Okay. The train is better for the environment,” I say, trying to smooth over my annoying interruptions.
“Exactly,” he says. “When we arrive, you have a beautiful spread waiting for us: local cheeses and meats, local wine from the winery where your Italian boyfriend works—”
“Oh, I like the sound of that!” I say.
“Well, I know how you are,” he says. “And bread of course, which you’ve baked yourself.”
“Nice. What about dessert?” I ask.
“We’ll bring dessert from Paris.”
“Ooo la la!” I say. What I really think is, After a whole day on a train, even the sturdiest eclairs will be soggy. But I don’t say anything. This is his fantasy about our reunion, and in his fantasy, we all live in Europe, and travel at the speed of light.
The Catalyst 