)(( hannah mello ))(

The Where.

I'm sure all of us could name a specific location where some significant thought has occurred.

Maybe we kept going back, and it became "the spot". Maybe we couldn't go back because it was too significant of a place, and returning would only revitalize emotion/the moment better left in the past.

7+ locations have been sites of such significance for me.


1. The Sitting Tree (Mello Mountain) 1983-1991
From 0-9 years old, Mello Mountain was my home. A little hill we named as such, on 350 acres of mountain land. There was one particular tree with a branch, much like the tree pictured here, that protruded from the tree-trunk low. It overlooked the valley that Hwy 17 wound through, so far below. My mom and me would always go there. Separately, and always alone, but we knew it was "the spot" for both of us. I'd go there to pray, to think, to dream.


2. Branciforte Drive Creekside 1994-1996
Everyday after school, I would go home, change out of my uniform, lace up my tennis shoes, and walk into the forest. We lived on 36 acres with 5 other families, and most of the acreage was the undeveloped wood. I found a spot next to the trickling stream where the air was always so cool. You could smell the moss. You could hear the trickle of the water falling from the rock. So much space was created for me there. Space to be silent. SO MUCH was going on in my life around that time. Turbulent times. Tragedy. That space saved me.


3. Twin Lakes Beach 2005 & Today
For some reason, I found myself on the shores of Twin Lakes Beach that morning, June 1 of 2005 when in silent moments, I decided internally to move overseas. Ever since then, that spot of sand has been a place of rest and thinking for me. It's not because I think it's the best beach, or the best spot in Santa Cruz, but rather, it's where I feel PULLED TO whenever something is going on with me. I went there after moving back to CA from NYC. Life felt simple and quiet there. Even tonight, after seeing a challenging film, I found myself there on that beach's shores, prawn tacos in hand (Thanks to El Palomar's goodness), thinking and at peace.


4. Napoli, Italia, Waterfront (Chiaia district) 2005-2007
The very first day I arrived in Napoli as a resident, I found myself on the railing overlooking Vesuvius and the Mediterranean waters before me. There was something about standing with the Mountain in view. Feeling small. That was a big time period for me. A period of years where I was making big decisions internally about the kind of woman I wanted to be. What from the past I wanted to leave behind. What of my family heritage I wanted to carry into the future; what I wanted to leave behind. There in the quiet of those moments, hearing the Italian young people laughing and on a moto (motorcycles) nearby. The lapping of the salty sea. I returned to that waterfront every day I could. After a day of teaching nearby, I would take time to walk. Before moving back to America in '07, I returned to Napoli to meet myself here. To remember all that had been wrought in my heart during my time there.


5. Piazza Grande, Modena Italia 2006-2007
I lived across from this piazza my second year in Italy. I saw the cathedral tower through my kitchen window. But nothing was like being in the piazza at night. Using the free wireless on my laptop. Hearing the echo of laughter from Cafe Concerto's outdoor seating in the piazza. The almost-always live jazz band. The click of Italian women's heels on the cobblestones. The rickety clatter of bikes bumping up and down on the stones' rise and fall. Seeing others like myself sitting alone in the quiet of the night. The moon bright over the piazza. The stars dim.


6. Glendalough, Ireland (Wicklow County) April 2007
It's ironic that today is the day before Easter and I'm writing about Glendalough. I visited Ireland intentionally that Spring Break, my second year in Italy. I desperately needed nature. I was tired of the glamor of Northern Italia. The fashion. Ferrari. Ducati. And, there I found myself canceling my Dublin hostel reservation to go to these Irish mountains-- all because of a German girl in a hostel's recommendation. And it was there that SO MUCH happened in my soul. I hiked 9 miles over a mountain on Easter Sunday (long story), and the next day, I actually video taped myself on the shores of this here-pictured Glendalough lake, sharing my heart. The questions in my head were: "What do I want to do with my life?"; "Do I want to go back to America?"; "What do I value most?"; "At the end of my life, what kind of life do I want to have lived?"... Existential wrestlings. Glendalough was the setting. I still hold dear the photos I have from Glendalough. I feel like there was a lot that was happening to me during that time.


7. The steps of the church on the corner of Bleeker & 6th Avenue, NYC 2008
I loved living in the West Village of New York City. In the buzz of my day, coming home to quiet Morton Street felt peaceful and truly like home. But it was there, just around the corner from the Washington Square Park train station, on the odd intersection of Bleeker & 6th, that I had some really beautiful and true moments. There was a fountain, just outside Joe's Pizza, and across from that a little cathedral-like church. I would go get self-serve, weighed frozen yogurt at Yogurtland and sit on that church's steps. Looking out to the piazza with the fountain and all the West Village people, I loved hearing the sounds. Feeling in the middle of so much activity, and yet in a little bubble of solace. The full moon would always seem to sit perfectly in view.


So, a toast. To the rarity of solitude and silence. To the places that make such a rare gift possible. :) Cheers. Cheers.

posted by )(( hannah mello ))( @ 9:27 PM