La Dolce Vita

In baking, something beautiful happens in that first interaction between butter and sugar which only intensifies with a dash of vanilla. As a relative late-comer to the proverbial joys of cooking, no tasting stage is more tempting than this pure, buttery-rich sweetness. If only my students knew how many of their unborn cookies are sacrificed at this particular altar! But this beauty is only revealed in the beating stage - the breaking down of the individual ingredients to form a new whole.

I've lived these past few days in the breaking down stage of this new adventure. All of the elements that to this point have made my life rich and worthy to be savoured - the students who induce belly laughs with their randomness, the colleagues who encourage and define true community, the fierce and loyal friendships, the relationship that has made every day an adventure, the steady unconditional love of family - these are such a sweet combination. And just as baking is all the better for choosing the fresh, the quality, the authentic ingredients - it is the authenticity of these people in my life that make this leaving so difficult, so bittersweet.

And yet, after that last airport step around the corner from the three most important people in my life, the tears dried. It's hard for excitement to build with the prospect of a (delayed) 10 hour charter airline flight, but the fires were stoked.

This new chapter in my life, by the necessity of distance, requires me to break down my understanding of these elements into a new form. And, to embrace whole-heartedly the unknown "New" barrelling my way. This is going to be an incredible time of learning to blend the old and the new into my own definition of la dolce vita - the sweet life.

I'm ready. Just let me stop for an espresso first.