And so, there we were, in Empoli, a Tuscan town about 45 minutes north of Castle Fiorentino, a midway point to Firenza (Florence).

We had gone there for the day to take a look at what was there, since it was a whole lot bigger than Castle Fiorentino, and also to get some dinner.

We spent the day in Castle Fiorentino. We eventually left about 4 p.m., thinking that by the time we got to Empoli, around 4:45 p.m., we could hit some stores and have some dinner right around 6:30 or 7 p.m.

Needless to say, none of that worked out well.

First of all, the stores closed down from approximately 1 to 4 p.m. in different regional cities and rural towns, or at least that’s what we thought. On the other hand, there’s no set rule for that, and each town seems to dictate what its hours look like. Most of them do shut down by 1 p.m., or at the latest, 1:30 p.m. However, when they open is anyone’s guess.

What we found out when we got to Empoli is that the stores were not about to reopen until 6 p.m.

So, with the Tuscan sun baking on our heads, in the middle of a square that had tributaries in every direction for a city that was otherwise very well stocked with commercial stores, the stores reopened right around 6 p.m. Hence, we hung out for a while, the kids lamented a great deal, but serving them with Italian gelato (of which we consumed vast quantities over a two-week period of time), we were able to keep the five of them under control until the stores reopened. And, when the stores did reopen, we had already managed to scout out the ones we were looking for and buy what we eventually wanted to get.

By 7 or 7:15 p.m., we were very hot and tired, having traversed the city from one side to the next, and ready to sit down and have some dinner. We checked out the first restaurant, we checked out the second restaurant, and when we finally checked out the final restaurant, we realized the restaurants were not going to be open until either 7:30 or 8 p.m.

We were hot. We were tired. And we were absolutely ready for some dinner.

The first restaurant turned us away not only because they weren’t prepared to give us the table we wanted, but even more importantly, they weren’t going to open for an additional half hour, and they weren’t about to make an exception for us. By that point, we had gone to several of the restaurants, none of which were going to suite the bill.

We finally ended up at a wonderful little Tuscan restaurant that was to open at 7:30 p.m.

Tired and a wee bit smelly, we just wanted to eat and head back to Castle Fiorentino.

We ended up with a wonderful dinner, complete, of course, with bottles of wine, polished off the Tuscan meal, and proceeded to secure a good solid gelato on the way back to the car.

In the course of the conversation at dinner, we had one primary discussion that was worthwhile for all of us.

I made the comment that if your intention is to be spontaneous, you have to accept the consequences. Life allows us all the chance to organize our futures. And in many ways, organizing our future is important.

But there are times when you simply want to put your PDAs and computers aside and live in the moment, being prepared to respond to circumstances as they come up.

Each and every one of us is capable of living our lives in that way when it’s important, and each one of us is capable of learning those lessons when it may not be important, but may be helpful.

One valuable lesson is that you can’t be spontaneous if you’re not prepared to realize that, at some point, consequences emerge that may not be what you want. What’s called for at that point? How about…

1. Flexibility
2. Adroitness
3. Evenhandedness
4. Emotional, physical, and spiritual balance

We enjoyed the dinner immensely, we enjoyed the evening, and we returned to Castle Fiorentino not necessarily with a different frame of mind, but with a different appreciation for just simply accepting the moment and responding accordingly.

Original writing date: February 2006

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