I love Pompeii also because of its history, or its fate, I rather say. For nothing like the sudden disappearance of an entire civilization is exemplary of the ephemeral nature of life and – as a direct consequence – of the importance of letting go of old ideas that don’t serve us any more, or of new obsessions that never will. The people of Pompeii had no idea that, from one day to the other, they would be buried in ash, and forgotten for more than 1600 years. This history test never fails to find me unprepared. I reference ancient Roman history because I had to let go of a lot in the past six weeks, from the very birth of Catherine, on December 16, 2017.
