Warning! Self-reflection under a magnifying glass may cause serious burns.

As you may know, a little over two months ago we decided to move in a new direction—to write the story of this Italian adventure, documenting details and quirky happenings along the way. We’ve shared our feelings and many conversations as a way to learn more about each other and ourselves.

But beyond that, in order to really understand who we are, we need to observe how we are. We need to shine a different light on our experiences to gain greater perspective. In order to do just that, we have made many videos, written numerous stories and taken a boatload of pictures to further illustrate what is really going on here. We’ve allowed ourselves to be photographed and videoed and studied up close and personal in our “natural habitat.”

True to our intentions, the stories have come directly from events of each day. In effect, we are following ourselves around hour-by-hour—nothing fabricated nor forced for the sake of a story. We try to simply wait and observe, relying on one another to notice something the other of us may have missed. It’s been a pretty interesting and natural process for us and we have had great fun unraveling the threads of this Italian life.

Ultimately, when all is said and done, we remain dedicated to the “story.” In the everyday tales of our lives, we act out who we are, and quietly, nearly unnoticed, we plant seeds for who we may become. We believe that there is a wealth of insight to be gleaned by simply looking in the everyday mirror—observing ourselves and disclosing those often unseen aspects of who we really are. Until we get into the unaltered gritty everyday-ness, we may, all too comfortably, embrace the illusion of false stories made up to distance and protect ourselves. But ultimately, we believe in the value of the “examined life.” For this reason, we decided ten years ago to become storytellers—serving to simply reflect what we see.

We are committed in our lives to stomping the long grass down as we create this path. The vision of awakening to a more detailed and revealing image of ourselves is only possible through open, honest self-expression and disclosure. No matter what the challenges, we intend to continue moving forward with mirrors and cameras in hand, uncovering more and more aspects of who we are. Understanding ourselves just a little better each day opens up possibilities for a future that might otherwise remain hidden from view.

Nobody said it would be easy!