The moment

I was spending time with some friends the other day and we were talking about our common love for island life. We tried to put it in words, but it was difficult to describe; so, we started talking about our experiences, analyzing memories, trying to get to the critical moment when we actually felt connected to our Aegean floating pebbles: Often, the life we build and the experiences we choose are nothing but an attempt to reproduce a certain feeling, usually undefined, that doesn’t last for more than one minute. But it’s a moment of profound truth and balance and it is enough to underline a whole new life direction.

I can talk to you about a moment of grief, and about a moment of joy. When my uncle passed away, we travelled to the island for the funeral. A few minutes before the ship tied up at the dock, we were standing at the garage, gazing from the open door the people that waited for us on the port: Relatives, friends, strangers, all waiting in silence. The people on the port and us didn’t talk, not even when we disembarked and mingled with them. They were there for us, so was the island. Just for a moment, everything felt clear and connected; and it felt like returning to a very ancient home.

The other moment was a couple of summers ago, when I worked as a volunteer for the festival “Routes in Marpissa”. The energy was unbelievable; I remember being inside the old settlement, watching a concert, when I realized that a dialogue had been born, between the village (the settlement, its history, traditions and geography) and the people (locals, visitors, artists and volunteers). It was a magical moment of everything being united, everything being in the right place.

So, does it take only a moment to connect to a place? Places are sometimes like people; it could take a minute to connect with them if we are lucky, but it could also take a lifetime. That made think about the blog: In every post, the stories and the photographs are our way to relive experiences based on moments like that. They can be familiar, but they only describe the possibilities. The rest, is ours to discover.