Thank you everyone. I celebrated ten years of Il Castello di Tara yesterday. Not ten years of work or of even working in real estate – ten years of my agency. I hardly even dare call it my agency as it stands with or without me. It busies itself with the help of the various assistants who have come and gone: Patrizia, Pasquale, Sara, Valentina and of ‘course Marta. It runs around and creates with the help of the many people who come in through the door. It sighs and laughs with the help of the lovely town people who I meet every day. It lives on with the help of the Universe.
Ten years ago, when the agency I was working for, closed, I decided to throw myself into this venture: I was inspired by the actual job, I was fascinated by houses in general, I really enjoyed meeting new people… and I loved my office! Little did I think about the fact that there was a bad economic crisis and that many activities in the area were closing down; little did I even know about the crazy Italian tax system when you open a company and were self-employed. I hadn’t quite realised I would be going months without earning and with a pile of debts to pay… all I thought about was the challenge, the fun, the excitement – ingredients which I have always promised myself I should never do without when doing anything (teaching, gardening, walking…) or… rather, don’t do it at all. Not always an easy task, but certainly, I believe, a good standard to have. If what you do doesn’t give you a sense of achievement, of doing something worthwhile; if what you are doing isn’t helping you progress in who you are and evolve what the world around you is about, then it isn’t worth doing. If what you do doesn’t, even just a little bit, make the world a tiny bit better… then why do it at all?
In these ten years I have been so lucky. I have seen amazing houses, castles, palaces, I have seen sad abandoned cottages being bought, done up and loved again; I have seen towns and areas of Umbria and Italy I would never had been to if it wasn’t for houses; and I have met so so many people! People of all kinds, of all nationalities, of all ages, of all social classes, of all tastes, faces, smiles and colours and every single one of these people has enriched me. Some people I just met once, others I hear from on a regular base, many have become really dear to me, they are friends. Everybody has a story and in a little way, these stories become mine. Sometimes I go home full of joy for the people I have spent my hours with, other times I can’t sleep at night because their worries become mine. We are after all really all one. We all rejoice, we all suffer. Empathy is the key.
Ten years are nothing. Though, they are ten years and in this crazy country where many things are upside down, so beautiful, yet also not quite right at times, ten years are also a lot. Yes … the mysterious relativity of time.
Nevertheless… here I stop a for a while, I take a deep breath and I say
Thank you.
Nothing more, nothing less.