I met a lot of people in Europe.  I even encountered myself — James Baldwin

I turned 60 in August. For a long time, I thought about how I wanted to celebrate this big event. I knew it would not be with a “thing” — I have enough things as it is. And I hate surprise parties. I knew that it would have to be an experience.

Sixty was a milestone for me, and a little bit of a scary one at that, because my family doesn’t have a history of great longevity. My Italian grandmother died in her 50s; my English grandfather, at 64. My mother died at 64, also. It’s only my Italian grandfather (83) and father (78) who hold out any hope at all of a reasonable life span. So 60 was special. And I wanted the celebration to be special, too.

Then it came to me. I wanted to go to Italy with my best friends. I asked three friends and their significant others to come with me and Tim. I would pick a villa and we would stay there together for a week. They agreed.

I called it “The 2009 60th Birthday Northern Italy Eat-All-You-Want Song and Celebration Tour.” We went in September, to the amazing but oft-neglected (by American tourists) regions of Lombardia, the Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. We stayed in the welcoming and magnificent Villa Castellani along the Po. It was the second time there for me and Tim, the first time for our guests. Everyone was thrilled.

Thanks to the efforts of our gracious and generous host, Ing. Luciano Castellani di Sermeti, I was able to give two readings from my book while I was there: one in Verona to a largely bi-lingual audience, members of the Associazione Italia-USA, and one to an Italian-only audience in Sermide, at the villa (with a translator). I’ll never forget those evenings.

Why do I tell you this? Because all the journaling and all the photographs that we took (and there were nearly 1,000) couldn’t capture the experience in full. Not even close. But something has come close, and that’s what I want to share with you here. I have met myself here, and I have seen my friends for the wonderful gifts that they are.

I am proud to present an uber-talented creative artist (painter, photographer, media maven) in Marblehead, Massachusetts whom I have known for more than 20 years. A few months ago, I saw a video of a trip that he took to Prague and I knew immediately that I wanted him to do the same for my 60th birthday trip. I was thrilled when he said yes. He culled through all my pictures and asked me for a suggestion for the background music. I knew in an instant what I would pick: the theme from one of my favorite movies, Il Postino — “Mi mancherai,” which was written by Luis Enriquez Bacalov.

So turn up the sound on your computers and have a look and a listen. It’s only four minutes long. This is me, meeting myself in my bella Italia. These are my friends. This is the work of the wonderful Richard Buckley. Grazie per tutti, Dick.

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KateMcMillan