SOMETHING VERY NEW!!!

Here I am at school on a thursday afternoon, waiting for the students to finish their final tests. The sun is out, the wind is blowing and I am happy. The weekend is approaching, and I feel light: I don't have to go to Sasso to finish OOS Assis, nor do I have to go to Amiata to do the roof direct (that in my mind will be forever called "Silent Strike" in Tom's honour, until I find a FA to be named that way). Both problems have been crushed to tiny bits.

This is probably the biggest change in my climbing career, because, I can say, I have done everything I wanted to climb close to here.

Reading what I wrote some time ago about "The foolish bet", everything now takes a new path and a new meaning. I can re-address my priorities now, according also to the desire of the moment. There are no problems to tie me to close shores, I am free to sail wherever I want. Ticino, The Peak, Font. Everything now steps into the light with full brightness, because the two problems I sent lately do not project any longer their dark, heavy shadows on everything else. I can no longer hear their call: "You shouldn't be there, you should be here, with us". Like Ulysses I know that call, but unlike him, I followed that call, fell in love with the call, gave everything I had to the call, but managed to sail my ship clear of the rocks, to avoid the wrecking.

I am different, as I've said. Everything is different. I am free.

Until the next problem, that is.

Last, but not least, a less serious note, just to let you all know who I chose to share my life with.

When we got to the Amiata roof, my girlfriend hadn't been there in a long time, two years probably. While I was warming up, under some heavy pressure, she looked at the line, and without even touching the holds said "Lore, if you can't climb this kind of problems what the hell can you climb?!". I wanted to cry.

Then, to make things even, after my send she said "I thought you skipped a hold, you treated it like a 7a!". I again wanted to cry. Of joy.