A Year Later- Sicilia to Virginia- Personal

Wow, first of all, I have to warn you, this post I already know will be filled with much emotions, yes, there will be tears rolling down my face and you will be glad you can’t see me!!! haha, I just know it already cause even just thinking about it I get a little knot in my tummy. Is it normal? I’m pretty sure it is and if not oh well, after all this is Shakyra lol

A year ago from today, May 23rd 2013 we left a huge chunk of our hearts in bella Sicilia in Italy. I can’t believe it’s been a year already!
I cannot even begin to tell you how much I miss it, every single day, EVERY SINGLE DAY!

I’ve always adapted to new places pretty fast and have always been ok with moving to new places but Sicily was the first place in my life I did NOT want to leave.
Yes, like every place it has it’s goods and bads but the bads were blah so small and the goods were Oh soooo amazing!!!

I wanted to make this post more about what I miss the most… why Sicilia felt like home <3

 My house…

I miss my house, yes, it was smaller and the kitchen storage pretty much sucked, and flushing the toilets sucked  (yeah you know what I’m talking about if you got to live in Marinai housing 😉 ) and falling down the tiled stairs sucked, but it was home. The home we brought our little boy to, where he did many many of his “first” <3
I really miss our “backyard” or what we would refer to as “Gio’s park” right behind our house. Such a beautiful open field where we had many play times, many picnics with family and friends.

Community… Amazing people…Amazing friends turned into family…

I really miss the small/tight community we had there.
Everyone knew pretty much everyone, we pretty much knew your baby sitter, your hair stylist, those cooking for you, your kid’s coach, your kids teacher, your photographer 😉 your neighbor, we were really blessed to have met amazing people while there.

We’ve also been so blessed to have many of our amazing “Sicily Military Family” being transferred here and that’s being amazing!!!

Traveling Europe…

I miss all the traveling to “such out of this world” places we got to visit.
Our all time favorite was Germany, Garmisch to be more specific, where I took one of my all time favorite pictures which has so much meaning to me behind it.

Food…

I miss the ahhh to die for food, Sicilians live for food, they pride them self for it and they really should cause the food is just AMAZING!

• My all time favorite was penne pasta A’lla arrabbiata  which means “pissed off pasta” haha spicy spicy!!! hot! woohoo!
• Also, Alfio’s pizza, right across from our housing, yumm! Imagine a pizza just for you, yes, that’s how you get it, they don’t cut the pizzas in slices either! prosciutto crudo, shaved parmesan cheese, olio di oliva, oregano ahhh can I have one now please???
• Cafe Cafe! Coffee everywhere.
• Vino!!! I guess I’m so glad I got to bring plenty of bottles with our move! After a year I probably have about 38 bottles left.
• Gelato! Ay mama mia! I will never forget as the Gelato man would pass by the house with his gelato truck and the music, Gio would scream “mama! I want gelato man!” haha
• Cornetto con albicocca- Crossant filled with apricot  ahhh!
• One of our top favorite agriturismo there, Borgo Antico, there is no way to describe it, you have to live it, I will attempt to give you a glimpse of it the best way I know, with pictures..

Table for two and a half!! 😉 and my all time favorite curio/hutch <3

The beautiful drives… The amazing views…

Yes, the drives can be crazy and intense but after a while you get use to it.
Better to take it easy and enjoy the views…
I’m so thankful I took the time to just live Sicily, the little details sometimes we over look.

The beautiful view I would drive everyday, I really miss this…

and all the beautiful views surrounding us

Mt. Etna…

The second most active volcano in the world. How I miss seeing her beauty every single day. Such an amazing experience watching her erupt in such a manner and so often.
We were really blessed to have experienced this…

…but, above all of these, the one thing I miss the most…

Family time…

Sadly, with the move, came sea duty, horrible hours, sacrificing a lot of family time.

Just hanging out outside pretty much everyday together as family, enjoying the beauty of our surroundings, the breeze, the gorgeous sunsets, enjoying the little things and the big things…

and now I’m crying!!!

I miss all of these and so much more and I know I will have Sicilia forever in my heart.
Now, we will make new beautiful memories here and I pray one day I will be at least a bit sad when is time to pack again and move on to our next adventure.

Thank you everyone who was part of this beautiful journey. Grazie Sicilia for the memories I took with me <3

SICILIA E BELLA!