a spontaneous "lets get out of the classroom and write"

Being a planner is thrown out the window. The title I used to hold, completely dissolved. I have always had a plan, but would roll with the punches. A "flexible easygoing planner" is how I would describe myself. The "flexible easygoing" part is now stressed as I will press my lips before planner comes out of my mouth.

Here I am, my professor has dragged me to another church.

I would never really say that. Look at this.

Standing on a piece of shaky cobblestone outside the church, as my professor tried giving us a history and the Charlie Brown teacher voice rang in my head, I wondered how much this piece of the street must have endured to get this way. I wonder who the people are or were who traveled across it.

Donatello stands strong on the church. I think of how much he endured to get carved into marble and placed into the façade.

In sports, I think of recent March Madness events but also my personal experience in sports in track and field hockey, we measure success in points scored, personal bests, championship titles. The final result of a game or a score is all we focus on. We do not see or experience all that it took to get to that point.

I wonder what was endured to make another church, this church. All of the mosaic, the painting, the brick laying.

Forget Rome, forget Florence, forget this church even, this floor was not built in a day.

I wonder what the people were like, the ones who built this. I wonder what their personalities were. They all have one thing in common, endurance, even if they stopped every twenty minutes for un cappuccino or una bottiglia di vino. I mean these carvings are amazing, lacelike drapped but elegant like a spider web.

All of the people who sat in this spot.
All of the eyes who have looked at these things.
What are their stories?
Where are they from?
What did it take for them to get here?
Do they appreciate this?
Do they have a belly full of espresso, cornetto, or even spaghetti al pesto?
Are they bored?
What are they thinking?
I wonder if they are thinking about the same things I am.