Accepting change

On my walk yesterday, I strolled through Piazza del Carmine and saw that they had just repainted one of my favorite palazzi (buildings). I was disappointed that they had painted it because I loved the pastel-colored cracked paint of the facciata (façade). Every time I found myself in the piazza, I would stop to admire it. I tried to find a picture I had taken of it last year, but I couldn’t find it.

I stood in the piazza, staring at the palazzo for a few minutes and even called my marito (husband) to tell him what happened. I couldn’t believe that they had painted it and I hadn’t even walked by recently to notice it. There was a man scraping the paint off a cement balcony, so I knew that it had been done recently.

The palazzo looked so different to me. I was surprised with myself that I couldn’t even remember what color it used to be. Possibly it was an orangish yellow, but now it’s just yellow.

Since I’ve been living in Florence, the city has taught me to love and accept what is. To not want things to be different. It has also taught me to welcome change, but sometimes I find it difficult when I like certain things, like the facciata of a palazzo.

When I left the piazza, I looked back one last time at the palazzo to try to find something positive about it. It might have lost the character I so loved, but it does look fresher now and ready for a new life in the piazza.

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