A beautiful love story
Walking in meadows, fields and above all in the woods did get me quite “sane” through the years. The trees are protecting me and I can feel Mother Nature embracing me very strongly. So my heart is wide open and problems or negativity reduce to an acceptable dimension. They become treatable, every now and then solvable and at times they even vanish completely into thin air.
This must have been the frame of mind when taking my usual walk around the forest. Halfway I came across a pleasant and handsome young man who was working the land. It looked as if he was trying to create terraces from a steel hill. Once he protected them from boars and other animals with a sturdy net, he would probably move seedlings into the well prepared garden soil. At least that’s the idea I got.
Earlier that week somebody had cut down the weed thoroughly while sparing however a bush of ox-eye daisies. Very unusual, because normally whoever mows with a grass trimmer does not leave anything uncut.
In Tuscany we are used to having a chat even with people we don’t know and so we started to have a talk. He told me that as a child he used to live in the area, but that he and his parents at a certain point moved abroad. From his words I saw confirmed that an authentic Tuscan will keep the roots, the place were he was born and raised in his heart forever.
On a recent visit the young man met his former playmates, the neighbors and the friends from preschool. Right then he saw the girl with whom he got to spend time together when they were children. It’s true, you cannot command a heart, because he instantly fell hopelessly, irretrievably in love with her. Without warning, love breaks down all defenses and it can happen that it burns down programs for the future established long ago.
He decided to follow his heart and to take destiny into his own hands. This implied leaving the country he was living in and moving into the old family home in Tuscany. Nobody had lived there for quite some time and it definitely needed some renovation. But it was still there, next to some blooming bushes, as if it knew that one day a new family was going to need it. And the house would be happy to welcome them and to offer a place were they could feel protected and safe. Maybe sooner or later children would have filled the rooms with cheerfulness and laughter.
How could he prove that he was serious about the girl of his dreams? After all, he knew little or nothing about her. Only that she was wonderful and sweet but determined at the same time. And then, that she had chosen a life in the middle of nature rather than a to some extend boisterous and social one.
For sure he wanted to let her know that he would take care of her. He did not know her taste and so he decided to plant a little bit of everything. Vegetables ready to be harvested from end spring to late autumn. I have seen seedlings of zucchini, potatoes, beans, eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, celery, kale, pumpkins, green beans, beetroots, salad, parsley and loads of basil. Even a corner with maize. Did he want to raise chickens in order to have fresh eggs, too?
I guess that he must have found out that she likes strawberries, because he reserved quite a bit of space for the delicious fruit which we usually eat in spring and not during the hot summer months.
Next to the house there are fruit trees and a small olive grove. The forest around them would furnish wood to heat the house during the winter months.
For some weeks I did not pass next to the property and I don’t know what happened to the two young people. If his efforts have been crowned by success? I would rather say yes. Who would not want to be loved like this?
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