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The first Sunday of each month, Nizza, who is in charge of our evening programs, invites some of us to a meeting in the course of which we discuss the programs of the past month and the entertainment which we can expect during the coming one. These meetings rarely take a peaceful course and here are some of the points raised:

"That violinist was great, I do hope we'll have him someday soon!"

"Great?!!! You say great? My grandson plays better than he does, and my grandson has only two years of violin study! No! We should not invite this man anymore!"

"Of course you'd rather have that fat girl which plays the piano because she is the niece of your best friend!! Let her play for you at home and not for us!"

"Ladies, ladies, stop it! Actually we should have more lectures, we had only 4 lectures this last month and the only one which was good was the guy who talks about Florentine Art!"

"Not true! The woman who talked on Tuesday is a university professor and she surely knows what she talks about!"

"Yes? Really? Maybe she does but she thinks we are all morons and she speaks to us as we would be kindergarten children!"

"Truth is we should have some more movies! We haven't had a movie in a long time!"

"We did have one two weeks ago, but you were not there!" says the lady who sits next to me, "you always have more important things to do! However, I must confess that I myself fell asleep and only woke up when the movie ended!"

"I would like to hear those three people again", says Hanni wistfully, "there was that one man who has the biggest balalaika I've ever seen, so what about inviting them?!"

"Who are they", asks Nizza, "I don't remember who they are, do you know their name? I must have the phone number some place! Just knowing that he has a big balalaika does not exactly lead me to his phone number !"

"So what if he has a big balalaika, intervenes the lady who sits next to me, one can make beautiful music on a smaller balalaika!"

The meeting goes on and on and we often take a decision not to decide. Things will work out surely, and again, you can't please the whole world and your milkman too. (I think that I didn't quote this quite correctly, but you know what I mean)

One morning I got up and...had nothing to do! I simply couldn't believe it, because I lead such a busy life and I am a slave to the clock no less than I was years ago when I managed a household and a full-time job as well. So that morning, when I found myself with nothing to do, I said to myself:

"Great, wonderful! I'll just sit around and relax once for a change!" In my most comfortable housecoat I settled down in my one and only armchair and tried to recall the steps of relaxation. You count slowly one, two, three and talk to yourself: try a bit of floating, just let your mind drift into nothingness, oh yes, that's how it is done, my eyes wander around my home which I love and there I see flowers in a vase, the flowers which my son has sent me all the way from Germany - don't I need to change the water? And wait a moment, did I wash my breakfast dishes or did I leave them there in the sink? My washing machine is full, all I have to do is push the button, so this doesn't mean work, or does it?

I sigh deeply in realization that I have forgotten how to relax. Truth is I never knew how - someone or something was always waiting for me to get out of the chair. At this point in my life I should realize that one cannot learn new and difficult things like relaxing, so I get into a T-shirt and pants, put on my sneakers, gather my MP3 and a towel and go down to the gym in order to do something useful.

May your week be filled with useful and enjoyable activities!

Lucca