Mi perdoni

     10 years ago I spent a summer in Rome, Italy on a summer project. It is amazing to me that, although in reality, there were a lot of hard things about that summer, I remember it fondly. Currently, my room is decorated with photographs and paintings that I acquired that summer, and if you are around me long enough you will hear me refer to once or twice how much I adore Italy! The city was beautiful, the people were lovely, the culture enchanted me, and the food was delightful-seriouly the definition of delight! 
    
    What strikes me as odd though is that at the time, most of that experience in Rome was one of struggle and disappointment. We were there to do some ministry, and found it very hard to meet students. As a team, we did not really get along too well, and the summer did not turn out quite like I had expected. So it is funny to me that over time, my memories have turned from recalling disappointment to that of pure romanticism and delight.
    
    A few weeks after I returned home from that summer, I was making my first (and only) scrapbook. While flipping through photos, brochures, tickets stubs, and memorabilia, I came across a Rick Steves' quote describing Rome. "Rome is brutal and magnificent all at the same time, but Rome is required." EXACTLY. That quote defined my summer, and over the past 10 years, it has become more and more true. Rome was a hard 6 weeks in my life-yes, but it was magnificent, and as I have moved on from that experience, I have seen how required it was to mature me. I learned a lot that summer about myself, and others, and God, and what it looks like to live in another culture. 

     It is as if the "required" aspect of painful experiences, begins to trump the brutal so that over time all that is left standing is the magnificent. They say that time heals all wounds, and I am beginning to see that maybe there is something to that! Just last week I was encouraging one of my students to go to Ocean City, NJ on a summer project. I sung it's praises and how great it was. But again, if I remember my summer there specifically, I didn't particularly like it in the moment. But now, 5 years later, somehow I remember that summer fondly too. The further away in time that I am from these "not so fun" experiences, the more I seem to remember only the good things and fun things about them. Maybe time really does heal all wounds-making life magnificent yet again? ....maybe.
      It makes me think about all of the other "brutal and magnificent, yet required" seasons and experiences in my life, and I wonder if over time I will reflect on those with fond and enchanted memories too?  Maybe I should just say to those "brutal" memories-"Mi perdoni (pardon me), but time is not finished with you yet. Magnificent is waiting further down the road."