This past week our group traveled to Rome, while we were there, we go to see some beautiful sites, including the coliseum, Saint Peter's Basilica, & The University of Santa Croce. Overall it was a wonderful experience. Nonetheless, today I do not want to talk about our trip. Instead, I will talk about a complete stranger I met on my way back to Castiglion Fiorentino.
Even though the time we talked was short lived, I will not forget the kindness she showed towards me. Valeria was somewhere around 30-40 years old. She had dark hair, big bright green eyes, and a truly captivating smile. I first saw her when I came back rushing into the train after presumably losing my U.S. residency card. At the time I was absolutely livid, wondering what was best for me to do, either jump out of the train to keep looking for my card or staying in order to avoid waiting 4 hours for the next train in the case I jumped out. In the middle of my decision making, Valeria, who was sitting in the set of seats next to me, looked up at me and said, "are you ok?" "do you need water or anything?". She could clearly see my distress in trying to figure out what to do.
I looked down and said, "no thank you, I just lost a very important document". In response she asked which kind of document was it, just so she could tell how important it was. When I told her that it was my green card, she put all of her things a side and was getting ready to jump down. As she was grabbing her suit case she told me "let's go look for it together, I'm sure we'll find it". I obviously could not accept her kind offer, but she kept insisting and telling me that she was in no rush of getting to her final destination. Unfortunately, as soon as she made her kind offer, the train's doors closed and the train began moving. This time I legitimately did not know what to think or do. I began scrolling on my phone like a maniac trying to look for something that could potentially help me replace the card.
Once more, Valeria saw the uneasiness in my system, and in the midst of my desperation, she just knew exactly what to do to in order to calm me down. She began talking to me so I could somehow forget what had just happened. Truly, I still don't know what was about her that made me feel so comfortable. Maybe it was her seemingly calm and sweet nature that got me; or maybe it was her concern for me and beautiful smile. All I know is that it was not until she got down from the train that I realized how relaxed I was due to her. When she got up to hop off the train she told me her name and said “In bocca al lupo con tutto”, which literally means “In the mouth of the wolf with everything”; but in reality it is simply a colloquial way of saying “good luck with everything”. Unfortunately, as soon as I heard these words, reality had suddenly hit me once more. My concern and preoccupation to find my green card was reborn.
When I got off the train in Castiglion Fiorentino, I went straight to my room so I could get free wifi and consider several options as to what could I possibly do about my card. But before I could start looking for alternatives, I had to secure my passport in the safe, but as I was taking out my valuables-bag from the safe, I took a quick glance at what it had inside before putting my passport in it... And sure enough, my "long lost" green card was there. So yeah... I never lost the card or took it with me to Rome and all I could take out of this experience were two things. One, I am one of the most oblivious people I know, and two, I met Valeria, one of the most caring people I've ever met. Grazie Valeria.