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Alecia Stevens's avatar

Amy, thank you so much for this! Just reading your latest post...stories! You are a story teller. Such a delicious gift. I have only recently been introdud to that art. It blew my mind! I get it. We can be beautiful with scars, too. much love and always appreciate your comments.

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Amy Brown's avatar

What a beautiful contemplation on brokenness. Eloquent. You had me seeing things in a new light. We break, things break, we survive, stronger and more beautiful. Do you know the Japanese art of kintsugi? Mending what is broken with gorgeous gold or silver glue, more beautiful with its cracks than before. This reminds me that our lives can be seen that way too

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Alecia Stevens's avatar

Dear Lolly, Oh, this is so wise! We need it not only with our service people (who couldn't be more kind! But generally don't speak English, naturally) we need it with our vet which requires more specific medical communication. We will do this. It is daunting, but worth every minute of it. ANd...by the way , your piece on Italian schools blew my mind. I will follow up with a comment. Just beautiful! So happy for the children here in Italy. much love!

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Lolly Martyn's avatar

Dear Alecia, You are so wonderfully courageous! 😍 I have a tip for you from myself before I spoke Italian and from the many expat teachers I worked with in international schools here. Type out your list, put it in google translate, print it and then hand it to your Italian person. I had an Irish friend who lived here for a year and had a major medical issue. She managed it by always following this procedure when going to the doctor. They could still speak, but increased comprehension dramatically! I hope this helps ❤️

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Alecia Stevens's avatar

Judy, this is the highest praise. Thank you. Isn't it true about tears? there are both kinds and maybe in the end they are all the same. thanks so much for reading, and especially for writing me back!

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Judy Barbagallo's avatar

Your writing brings tears to my eyes, a mixture of happy tears as wells sad tears. Or perhaps, in looking at your perspective, I should say broken and unbroken tears. Life brings both and I thank you for sharing that.

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Alecia Stevens's avatar

Oh, wow. I can't belive you are here. I didn't know that. Thank you so much, Ruth. Like your beautiful paintings. I'm glad to see you are back!

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Ruth Keipp's avatar

Sending love from Delaware to my marvelous and dear friend. I love your storytelling. It is magic. Just like you!

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Alecia Stevens's avatar

Diane, So great to hear this! The handyman and plumber were here today and with a good night's sleep I am refreshed and better able to communicate. wow, though! And I think Portuguese must be so much more difficult! Thanks for the cheerleading to a Southern sister!

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Diane Decker's avatar

My husband and I repeated “It’s only hard once” at least 10 times a day during the first few months of our new life in Portugal (which included a 9 month renovation project on the “very old house” that we purchased). We are almost at our 2 year anniversary and now we just say, “…and here we are, in Portugal!” BTW…we moved here from Beaufort, SC!

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Alecia Stevens's avatar

Nan, this means so much. First that it moved you . And, then, that you let me know about your own experience. Your note here does break my heart open. I'm both sorry and grateful. love.

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Rona Maynard's avatar

Alecia, you have arrived at a place of wholeness and are making its beauty real to me.

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Alecia Stevens's avatar

What a thoughtful comment! Thank you, Rona.

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Etta Madden's avatar

Another beautiful reflection, Alecia. I love your reflection on what you have broken and what it unbroken. ❤️ I also like the thoughts about vocations. I must add, though, that around 2018 I started writing about “vocations,” plural, and especially “later vocations.” I was diving into the beauty of being able to hear new and multiple callings. Very important, as you note! Some people seem to be better able to hear these calls than others are. Or perhaps many hear but ignore them…

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Alecia Stevens's avatar

Thank you, Etta. This topic of calling/ vocation has stirred me up! Send me what you’ve wrote if easy!

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Nan's avatar

Absolutely beautiful. I felt so at peace while reading this. Some days I feel like my ability to communicate is broken because I no longer know how to get through what's in my heart to my husband's brain which is living in the land of dementia, and his communications to me are often in a language I no longer recognize. There is no Google interpretation software for this. Yet I see through your words that nothing is really broken. We're learning every day to speak a language that get's through the fog - back and forth, with everything from frustration to laughter. Patience. Love. A hug and a smile. That's all the we really need ... not the words.

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