Weekly blog #122: Back in Rome, mimosas and sunflowers

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been getting all these questions. From friends, family and even from followers on Instagram. Are you still in the Netherlands? When are you going back to Rome? Are you going back to Rome at all? Do you still have your house there? Well, I did stay in The Netherlands a bit longer than initially intended, but now I am back in Rome. Where I was expected at a delicious brunch with friends as soon as my plane landed yesterday, where this week I will admire the new-born baby of my Italian friend for the very first time, where tomorrow, on the eighth of March, a lot of attention will be paid to International Women’s Day, but where, at the same time, the war in Ukraine is never far away and dominates people’s every thought.

I believe everyone has felt the same thing last week: how irrelevant it seems to worry about what to cook for dinner tonight, when more than a million Ukrainians have had to leave their homes

And that’s exactly why I don’t find it all that easy to write a blog today. My original idea was to talk about International Women’s Day and how greatly it is celebrated in Italy. About how the bouquets of mimosas, the flower traditionally associated with Women’s Day, will be sold out in every single florist’s shop tomorrow, because all Italian men are buying them for their spouses, girlfriends, mothers, sisters and daughters. However, as incredibly important as this day is, even this is overshadowed now by something more important and urgent: all those affected by the war in Ukraine. I believe everyone has felt the same thing last week: how irrelevant it seems to worry about what to cook for dinner tonight, or to celebrate a birthday, or to go to the gym, when more than a million Ukrainians have had to leave their homes, their families and their towns, completely uncertain about what tomorrow will bring. When we celebrated Carnival with thousands and thousands of people last week, that freedom to have a party felt even more special than usual, and in my blog, I expressed my hope that we will always combat the dark with the brightest colours. 

Here too, people took to the streets en masse, from Rome to Bologna and from Milan to Naples, to protest against a cowardly war and to call for peace

Just like in the Netherlands and many other countries, great charity initiatives are organised in Italy to support the refugees from Ukraine. Here too, people are bringing all different kinds of supplies to designated addresses from where brave volunteers are going to bring them to the borders of Ukraine. Here too, people took to the streets en masse, from Rome to Bologna and from Milan to Naples, to protest against a cowardly war and to call for peace. Both in The Netherlands and Italy, I’ve seen people carrying sunflowers, the national symbol of Ukraine. At moments like this, when almost the whole world unites in the same goal – helping the Ukrainian refugees – distances seem to shrink and our differences disappear. It’s said so often and it’s so true: there are beautiful things to discover in every situation, no matter how dark it may be. As tiny little lights of hope. For however polarised our society may have seemed during the pandemic – it was no different in Italy, in the Netherlands, or anywhere in the world – we are now closer than ever.  

Embrace the solidarity that is now emerging, and hold on to it

Keep looking for the good things this week, and celebrate them. Spring that has arrived and the sun that’s shining. Spontaneous brunches with dear friends that turn into lunches and drinks. A coffee in the sun. Enjoy new life, in whichever shape. Embrace the solidarity that is now emerging, and hold on to it. So that we may shower the world with mimosas and sunflowers.