Settle in.
It's time to wind down and rest your mind and body for the night.
You've done all you can do today.
The only thing left on your list is to let go and relax.
Snuggle up under your favorite blanket,
Turn down the lights and take the biggest breath you've taken all day.
Let's explore a small town in the Italian countryside at dusk.
The warm sun is setting and Beth is on her last day of her trip to the Italian countryside.
Her friends are already down in the nearby town,
Drinking glasses of wine and eating the freshest tomatoes Beth has ever tasted.
Before she heads to meet them,
She wants to get lost one last time on the narrow,
Winding stone streets.
A warm breeze blows through the hotel window as Beth runs a comb through tangled hair.
She wraps up in a soft silk shawl and takes one last look in the mirror.
Her cheeks are still rosy red and hot from the sun.
In fact,
Her whole body is still buzzing with warmth and her limbs are tired from all the walking she's done the past week.
Her hotel room is on the ground floor of a small bed and breakfast.
The owners have been incredibly friendly and have cooked her authentic Italian dinners many of the nights she's stayed.
They're an old married couple who speak little English,
But who she can tell love to care for the people that come and go from their home.
Before turning to walk outside,
She listens to the older woman pacing around downstairs,
Shuffling from the balcony to the kitchen to grab a whistling teapot.
Beth grabs her keys and opens the door into the calm and quiet night.
She's surrounded by a blanket of navy blue stars as she looks up at the sky.
Unlike back home,
There's no light to block out the constellations.
Sometimes,
While she walks,
She forgets to look down at the road and almost feels like she's floating along the path.
The fragrant scent of lavender from nearby fields wafts down into the town and coats Beth in its calming embrace.
Visiting the fields was one of the favorite parts of her trip.
For a few hours,
Visitors were allowed to wander the lavender rows,
Listen to the buzzing of worker blues,
And breathe in the almost magical air.
Walking slower now,
She actually spots some dried lavender flowers hanging upside down in the window of a nearby apartment.
The petals are illuminated by the soft glow of light from the family's kitchen.
She wraps her shawl tighter and feels like she's being hugged by the many mountains surrounding the small valley.
There's so many small houses dotting the countryside,
So many glowing lights softly blinking off and on.
She imagines all the families settling in for the night together,
All the dogs heading inside to their warm beds.
It's crazy how many hundreds of houses and thousands of little lights exist in this space in between the mountains.
Beth knows she's getting closer to the small downtown area when she can start to smell the baking bread being prepared for the next morning.
During her time here,
She's noticed that the lights at the small restaurants are almost always on.
The owners of these stores are hard at work,
If not for the current day's rush,
Then for the next ones.
They've been preparing their meals the same way as their mothers and their grandmothers years ago.
Within the crackling painted exterior of the building are the freshest ingredients sourced right from the countryside on the hills to her left.
She watches entranced as the woman in the stall across from her needs a large knot of dough methodically into a smooth flat circle.
Over and over again,
She repeats the stretching and tossing of the edible clay until Beth can barely see it lying flat on the wooden block.
Beth can hear her friends muffled laughter floating in from the restaurant a few doors down.
She knows it's time to meet back up with them and enjoy her final wonderful meal in this magical place.
She's ready to soak in the remaining hours,
But for now,
She breathes in deep and catches one last smell of lavender in the night air.
