Exactly What Was Needed
Quiet markers along the way — from rainbows to an unexpected Italian port
#32
There’s a theme quietly emerging as we continue this adventure — not one I set out to name, but one that keeps revealing itself anyway.
Rainbows.
Not on every island. Not every day. But often enough that I’ve begun to recognize them as markers — gentle arcs reminding me where I am on the journey. Our final days on Crete gifted us one stretching across the vast Mediterranean, soft and luminous against the sky.
I always pause when I see one. My dear friend Nina calls them “God winks,” a phrase that made me smile the first time I heard it — and one I’ve held close ever since. It reminds me how near grace really is when we choose to notice. Orienting my energy toward that awareness has changed how I move through the world, and it continues to meet me with more than I could plan for.
We took a long, unhurried walk along the pier and through town, ate another gyro (or two), and let the evening be simple. Then came a travel day — Heraklion to Athens to Rome — one of those rare sequences where everything flowed. I even shared a short video of the takeoff and landing from Crete to Athens over on the travel channel. From Rome, a driver brought us to Civitavecchia for the night, where we’d board the MSC Orchestra for a weeklong cruise, as I mentioned last week.
I’ll admit — I assumed Civitavecchia would be a throwaway stop. A logistical pause. A place to sleep before moving on.
Instead, it surprised me completely.
It turned out to be one of the most charming towns I’ve experienced in Italy. Warm, welcoming locals. Holiday lights woven through the streets. A feeling of depth and presence I hadn’t expected. While Tim relaxed, I lingered over a three-course seafood meal — pasta, salad, calamari — made a last-minute appointment to freshen my hair (woo hoo!), and wandered the town in the evening, soaking in the glow and energy of Christmas.
The next morning, I walked again — discovering blocks lined with outdoor vendors selling fresh produce, clothing, and holiday goods, alongside two bustling indoor markets filled with seafood, meats, cheeses, and bread. Italian voices echoed everywhere, and something in me softened. Then, just as effortlessly as the day had unfolded, a quick taxi ride carried us to the ship.
Less than 24 hours — and somehow, exactly what was needed.
Now we’re cruise-bound. Five days of prepared meals, daily workouts, a couple of evening shows, and ports of call that keep offering their own rhythms. We’ve wandered Valencia and Barcelona, and now Marseille. No organized tours — just walking, noticing, letting the cities meet us as they are.
Valencia didn’t quite land for us. Barcelona, which we visited together about a year and a half ago, felt familiar in the best way — a return rather than a discovery. We traced old steps through remembered squares, shared paella, dipped churros into thick chocolate, and I captured holiday scenes glowing throughout the city. It surprised me how much I enjoyed being there again.
Today, I’m writing from a small café in Marseille — France’s second-largest city — where I haven’t stood on French soil since my early twenties. The harbor, the Christmas stalls, the music drifting through the streets… it’s every bit as atmospheric as it sounds.
Being surrounded by so many people again has required some energetic recalibration. Thankfully, our balcony cabin has offered space — a place to breathe, to ground, to let the water steady us. Every form of travel carries its trade-offs, and we’ve learned to work with what’s offered rather than resist it. Months on the road have taught us that presence is a skill — one that gets easier with practice.
It’s time to head back to the ship. Wi-Fi has been a scavenger hunt today, so I’ll close here.
Not with a wish — but with an invitation.
What if the rainbow isn’t something you wait for…
but something that appears when you stop rushing past the moment you’re already in?
To your highest and best,
Dianna
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