My flight from LAX to Paris, and then on to Florence happened in a blink. This was the flight of my life. And maybe of my death...I mean....I feel like this flight took me from death to life...somehow, I left my body back in California as I traveled through space and time. I felt like only my soul was traveling with me. Could I maybe have died in California, and I am now being transported to heaven? Have I already lived the final moments of my physical life, and this plane is now taking me to life's destination? Does Italy lie, for me, beyond the pearly white gates?This is starting to feel like something clearly spiritual. This isn't just any vacation, any adventure, any trip, any mission. This is what happens when you finally realize your destiny, when you finally can touch that dream. I didn't know how I was going to react when I saw the Tuscan landscape appear in front of me from my window on the plane. But as the plane started approaching Firenze, the splendor of the Tuscan hills started coming into view and as I got closer and closer, I started to feel Italy in my bones...my eyes started spilling tears, my body shook...I felt like Dorothy when she returned from Oz...there's no place like home. That's all I could feel. I was overwhelmed with a sensation of being pulled....being compelled....being welcomed...being expected. As my plane landed I felt like all of Italy was looking up into the sky, sighting my plane, saying "here she is...Barbara's home".
