Italia.

I had a nightdream that I traveled to Italy for a gathering of all the Lallis who had ever lived. Hundreds of dark-haired, olive-skinned, beautiful Lallis. We were all standing, facing the same direction, apparently waiting for something that never came. I remember one woman's face in particular. She looked anxious. I think she was wearing a red sweater. She must have been my great-grandmother. Rose Elizabeth Esther Pecorelli Lalli.

I have a daydream that I am summering on the Amalfi coast (because in this daydream I am the kind of person that uses "summer" as a verb). I am always barefoot and barefaced. Always climbing mossy rocks to hidden coves, and always while wearing a sundress, unless of course I'm stripping it off over my head to dive naked into the aquamarine sea. Always lounging in a patch of Mediterranean sunlight beneath the open window of a stone cottage, wearing pastel lingerie. There's a cat perched on the windowsill. And there are always flowers. Lots of flowers. And of course, my Italian lover, who comes and goes as he pleases. Or rather, as I please. Some nights we make love to the sound of some kind of summer festival going on outside. Some nights we join the festival.