Sti Zoí

 Years ago, on the first of many trips to Greece, I fell in love with the people, the culture and the spirit of that country – especially the islands. Aegina and Hydra, Kalymnos and Patmos, Kea and Amorgos, Ikaria and Corfu. These are the places that I cherish most, for reasons of my own, where I found myself, and lost myself, and find myself again. 

 From the mainland to the islands, Greece is scattered to the winds. The Dodecanese and Sporades. The Saronic and Cycladic. They gleam like gems and precious stones in the water that reflects them. They float on the horizon on the seas that keep them buoyant. 

 It was in that place, and on those islands, where I first learned to roast lamb, grill octopus and roll grape leaves. It was also where I first heard a prescient old Greek adage—a prophetic aspiration which, since then, has become my personal mantra and philosophy for living.

“I want to die young, but very late in life.”

 The word “nostalgia”, unsurprisingly, is rooted in the Greek; it derives from nóstos, meaning “return”, and álgos, meaning "ache". A word that quite literally describes the pleasure or sadness that we all experience when remembering the past. The people that we loved. The places that we lived. The moments that we cherished. The events that changed our lives.

Nostalgia is an emotional homecoming for the soul.

 Like the islands in the water, I can see my own reflection. I can hear the sound of time itself in the echo of my heartbeat. I can see where I am going, because I know where I have been. I know what matters most in life, because the life I live has meaning. To venerate the times now past. To live fully in the moment. 

 Sti zoí …. ‘to life’.