Letter from Liguria (Reprise)
a photo essay
Look familiar? For the month of July, I will be re-sharing some of my favorite Tiny Letters from over the years. This will give me a chance to share my proudest work with new subscribers and let you revisit old newsletters that you probably haven’t opened since. In the meantime, I’ll be getting married, but I’ll be back with original content the first week of August. Thanks for reading.
K
When we land in Parma, the city is asleep. Our quest for coffee becomes an unforeseen odyssey. I'm in a mood. It's 7:30 in the morning, how is nothing open?
The following day, we wake up in a shared hostel. Matt is in a bunk bed diagonally from mine, and he texts me. Did you hear that lady snoring last night? In my memory, it was some crazy snoring. I thought at the time she should probably see a doctor. The large windows are open and mosquitos hover in the corners of the large room. I peel off my sleeping bag liner and swing my legs over the top bunk to shimmy down.
A smack! breaks the polite silence. I look around, strangers look at me. There lies my iPhone, face down on the terra cotta colored tile. Oof. With one finger, I lift the phone into the palm of my other hand. The screen, a thousand pieces. Glass fairy dust at my feet, a crime scene.
I know Matt and I did not plan to hike the entire trail in a single day. Let's just see how we feel, he says. I don't consider he's just finished training for an actual marathon, but maybe I should have. After a breakfast of sad toast and a shared apple, we started on the trail from Levanto to Monterosso Al Mar.
The whole day is a blur. I remember when we ran into two girls we went to school with - not so much friends as patrons of the restaurant that Matt and I worked in together. A blonde in a yellow sundress with glossy hair, her brunette friend I liked more with slide-on sandals and a pink goblet of gelato. Matt and I are covered in dust. He speaks to them as they giggle in turn and I inhale a piece of pizza, famished.
The sea is constant. My sneakers are blue. I forget what we spoke about, but I think a lot of it was just, Man, this is so beaut, and my emphatic agreement, a step behind.