10 years of marriage… Amanda couldn’t believe it. As she lay in the Florentine hotel bed, her head against Niels’ warm chest, she thought back to her early teen years when she’d imagined moving to Italy with Niels. Back then, they’d had big plans for their lives. When Niels had finally fallen asleep, Amanda slipped out from his warm embrace and went to her laptop. She searched through old homework folders, looking for one particular assignment they’d been given in the Next Generation Project (NGP). At last, she found it and the smile on her face couldn’t have been any larger. Describe a day in your life when you’re 30 years old. Amanda chuckled as she read what she’d written at age 14. She was quite a little romantic even then, wasn’t she? Things hadn’t quite gone according to plan. There’d been no touring, no amazing career accomplishments. She’d never become that prima ballerina she’d dreamt of nor that flamenco dancer touring in a latin band with her husband. They had never lived in Rome nor in any other Italian city. Most surprisingly, they’d ended up in New York--the last place they predicted.
However, just as Niels had always predicted, they had a girl first. Except, at age 30 Amanda not only had one daughter, but two daughters and a son. Unable to resist, Amanda crawled back into bed, her laptop, balanced on one arm. “Babe,” she whispered, poking him. “Baby look…” When he sat up sleepily, she turned the laptop towards him, immediately receiving a grimace as the computer screen was too bright for his newly opened eyes. She giggled and apologised, but eventually, Niels was able to read it. “I remember this,” he said, his smile matching hers. “You kept this?” Amanda nodded. “I only just remembered though. I’d made a little promise to myself back then to see how close my life came to that prediction.” Perhaps her prediction had been solely based on her love for Niels. She hadn’t considered that they’d end up with 3 children, or that they would have faced such challenges when it came to child rearing. She hadn’t predicted that she’d have two children with mild difficulties--Elia with asthma and Angelo with his damaged arm--or that she and her husband would disagree on whether it was time to retire from the baby-making business or not. Still, though things hadn’t been as perfect as her 14-year-old self had predicted, she was absolutely grateful. She’d returned to the present moment as the room plunged into darkness again. Niels had turned off the laptop and set it on the side table. Amanda had only felt the bed shift before Niels’ loomed over her, his weight supported on his arms, his lips only centimetres from hers. “Since you’re awake…” he whispered. Amanda burst into soft laughter before her arms wrapped around him, holding him close. “When in… Florence,” she said, and then his lips claimed hers.
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Amanda at a GlanceNames: Amanda Pontremoli, Amanda van Loon Archives
August 2017
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