Seventeen and in her room creating her world. Whether she danced, drew, or wrote, it was her nature to take flight. Stirring with another creative burst, she slid open her mirrored closet doors (lined with her scribbled science notes and equations that helped her study for an upcoming exam). She pulled out her black, button-down shirt and began to make the change she wanted. It was on a Friday afternoon—3:08 PM to be exact on the eighth day of
January 2021—when an email arrived and asked in the subject line: Are you still out there?
The sender, Jennifer, was hoping to reach the Vietnamese writer on the
other side of the question, the writer who had disappeared years ago
without saying goodbye and letting her readers know what happened to her
story. Jennifer pressed on in her email: It was almost time to go when Rachel, Michelle, and Mia placed their
packed bags in the hallway of the Hotel Palazzo Rosa in Venice. The last
train to Spannocchia was set to depart in a few hours to take them to their writing group in Tuscany. Recognizing
that life may never bring them together again in Venice, they circled
back to their favorite spots and the people they met, unaware of the
open door and enchantment waiting for their discovery. She arrived in Spannocchia one summer day, seeking to remove the
writer's block she was experiencing. She had never been to Italy,
never stayed at a farm estate. Joining a group of ten writers she had
never met, she stepped inside the villa, the magical place tucked away
in Tuscany. In the quiet hours before the first glimmer of light passes through the
rough ground of uncertainties, she stretches her arms in a long reach to
her right. Stretching farther to build strength and flexibility with
each turn and variation. Fine-tuning her body through the rigors of
efforts and practice, each muscle pushing the barriers and turning. The chocolate chip cookies were as decadent up close as they were from the outside looking in. Made fresh daily, they would make a good gratitude gift. But that changed when the mobile designer stepped inside L.A. Burdick Chocolates, a 1,000-square-foot chocolatier shop and café that invited her to consider other possibilities. It didn't seem momentous at the time when Mia stepped away from her desk and writing a novel. A break was needed, and she decided to try again to find a housewarming gift for her sister and her family. She returned to Anthropologie, opening the double wooden doors. She wasn't expecting much when she entered the two-level store. |
"Mia's writing is beautiful. She has a unique combination of quiet grace, amazing creativity, and what I sense is unwavering strength." —Stephanie K., subscriber