closing the door, and looking toward the open one

These last few weeks before leaving Milan have been interesting and wonderful! Many memories and sweet acts of kindness coming to my memory from the years lived here; now that we prepare to leave many more new and beautiful experiences have happened. So many friends lovingly offer to help pack & clean the house, while others have offered to help with the kids & making sure our tummies are full! It has really been bittersweet to say goodbye to such a fantastic place to live, but with the feeling that it is time to move on to another place for new memories! Funny thing is I keep meeting new Americans in the area! From church, to the park & even the grocery store! All with children close in age to mine. All somewhat beginning their own journey in Milan! My heart has been torn and a little confused why in all these years of so many friends moving from Italy to other countries WHY am I meeting these families the very LAST week I am in Milan? Maybe so they can know they too will be OK, maybe so I can pass along info of some of the best people in the area to help show them around.... and maybe because I will need someone to be a friend to me when I am the "newly arrived". "When one door closes another one opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us". ~Alexander Graham Bell