why I live in this country

Tonight, after talking to my family via Skype in Hungary and cooking a couple of awesome steaks (and leaving them uneaten) I left my backdoor open for doggie-pooh so I could go out for my night training along the intracoastal. As I was running with my Garmin GPS giving me distance and rest time (I was doing mile repeats) I thought about how lucky I was. Not because rain was soaking my tank top and weighing it against my body and not because I was running against 15 mile an hour winds, just because I could do all this! I could cook my steak, use my gadgets, leave my house door open and run along one of the most beautiful sites of the world. Then come home, eat my steak, walk my dog and drink my imported Italian wine. It is these everyday comforts and freedom that are so elementary and make life here so wroth while.

Everything is relative. If in another country, everyday comforts and little perks will mean something totally different. Sometimes that's good. I can also love a little Tuscan country home with its old fashioned plumbing, wholesome foods and bicycles. I could live without the gadgets and technology (and maybe whithout steak) because then other things would be pleasurable. Lot of different things are, in fact, it all depends on where you be (bad grammar on pupose). When I was in the desert, the most precious thing was our short hot showers in running water, and indoor plumbing toilets you could sit on. There was though a common denominator as well, which was running. It always is therapeutic and refreshing, rewarding and cleansing. I think, most of all, I am lucky that I discovered that - thanks to my father - and was able to revive it when I needed it. It's work, it's a challenge, it's a sacrifice; maybe that is exactly why it's so rewarding to me. Because of its "price".

Well, what's your common denominator? What could you take to any part of the world and cherish and use without much preparation? Is it music? Is it writing or reading? Is it praying? There is, there should be something, do you know what it is? Do you know why you are NOT living in another country?

I'm still going to Italy though, even if temporarily, to discover another beauty and maybe find another common denominator. Because I might not be able to run when I am 90...heehee. Maybe I'll paint. I will paint scooters with little puppy faces and church bells... Ok, now that's oxygen deprivation talkin'. Time to go.