Under the Virginian Sun

 

In the romantic comedy, "Under the Tuscan Sun" a writer from California named Francis, goes through a transformation. The movie starts when she gets a terrible divorce.  In this grueling process she finds out that the love of her life was cheating on her.  She is forced to sell her house and plunges into a deep depression.  Her friend, Patty, gives her a speech about how there are people that you meet in life and think to yourself, "What the hell happened to them?" Patty told Francis that they are faced with a crossroads. and that when they get there it's not the time for them to be scared.  In hopes to get Francis out of her depression, Patty gives her a ticket to Tuscany.  As Francis was wallowing in self pitty, she finally got the courage to take the ticket.  While in Italy, she decides she can't go back to California, and by fate, finds herself at an old villa for sale.  She buys the old house and renovates not just her home, but her life as well. 

My story is not as glamorous, and of course - does not take place in Italy.  But Virginia is not too bad.  I found myself at my crossroads with a ticket to take me across the country (which my friend had given me).  I had the idea of finding a new life, and who knew I would start to write!  I had previously posted about the condition the townhouse was in when I first got to Virginia. I knew that there was no way I could continue to live like that - as much as I like lawn chairs.  If I had to live in the dining room, it would be the best room in the house! I didn't have much money, but I did find a job very quickly after moving there.  The paint colors in the house were the first thing that needed to go.  We had a Nickelodeon Orange room, a blue that I call "Dodge Neon circa 1996 Blue" in another room, and a Burnt Mint Green color in the third bedroom. It was terrible to say the least!  From the look of it, you might guess that the paint was bought in the "Oops" section of the paint store.  We decided on two colors of paint: a neutral beige (Dusty Lane) and a sage green (Green Tea).  We continued to renovate the house, much like Francis in the movie. While Francis is renovating her own home she states, "Take one room and make it yours.  Go slowly through the house.  Be Polite.  Introduce yourself."  Slowly, our townhouse became a home and changes started to happen.  The TV was mounted to the wall, we had a couch, chairs, art, curtains, floating shelves, etc. 

One day my roommates finally made a 360, and I was so proud of them!  I remember very vividly - the house was clean and I had made my taco soup for dinner.  All four of my roommates were sitting on the couch eating dinner together, and watching "Under the Tuscan Sun."  The best part was, they were actually enjoying it!  Oh, how my influence was growing stronger.