31 Oct What’s age got to do with it? Everything!

I didn’t ever really care about age… I always looked young, felt young and was often told that I looked like my daughters’ sisters! All that changed when I received a birthday card with a giant 65 on it and I thought -that can’t be for me!!!!! But alas, I am aging just like everyone else! I’m not complaining, really, I know exactly how fortunate I am to be healthy and actively involved in life. ..  I never forget it. It’s just that it hit me- big time – I’m finally realizing that things are rapidly moving in that other direction.

So I had better take full advantage of my good health and fulfill some dreams!

My passion has always been to travel, specifically to Italy. I have been fortunate to visit twice, but I have really always wanted to go to Tuscany.  So after clearing it with S., and ascertaining that he had no interest in the trip, I started my search.

I wanted to go on a trip that wasn’t only for couples, so I would feel comfortable alone, and started Googling ‘Tuscany and Cooking’, looking for something that would incorporate both cooking (which I love) and sightseeing. I found a great site, Tuscan Women Cook,  checked it out fully, and made the decision. Then I started dreaming…. and losing sleep, I might add! I researched the train schedule obsessively, from Rome to Tuscany, checked on hotels in Rome (for one night after the cooking week) and bought a few books- ” How to Speak Italian in 20 Words or Less” and “100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go”!  I unearthed my “Beginners Guide to Italian” from a course I’d taken years ago….and after a sleepless few nights of worrying about the minutiae of traveling alone, I decided to stop that process, and just go with the flow.

A word about traveling alone. I’ve had lots of experience in the last 27 years learning to be an independent woman, after my divorce. There are many things I would never have done before, had I been a secure, married lady.

But with every difficult challenge, you grow and learn and suddenly you don’t think twice about traveling alone to Italy!

Honestly, I thought it was normal for me to fly alone to a foreign country, where I was sure most of my questions would be answered in English (or sign language!) and I would find my way by train to Tuscany, where I would be surrounded by 12 other recipe-seeking, adventurous women!

So now I am sitting on the train taking me to Montefellonico, where I know I will have the trip of a lifetime. Would it have been more fun to share this experience with a close friend? Definitely, but when that doesn’t work out, there is so much to be gained by taking yourself away…

-Roz Wiener

Roz Wiener has been a teacher, fundraiser and event planner who retired 9 years ago and now spends a lot of her time volunteering in the community for the Cummings Centre, Eldercare/Maimonides and ICRF, as well as babysitting and spending time with her four granddaughters. She is devoted to yoga, loves to cook and “plays at” golf and bridge.