Grit—”I let the earth collect beneath my fingernails, in the Tuscan hills.”

Mornings = coffee.

We have a handful of our favorite haunts around town, so on a beautiful sun-filtered San Diego morning, we plucked out a location and off we went. As we sipped coffee, our friend Andrew slid a chair up to the table and sat down for a spell. He steered our conversation to the romantic allure of Europe. Andrew spoke of his dream to live abroad one day. He knows that we have put down some roots in Italy, so he was sure that we could help him imagine that future.

With Italy, the first things people usually think of are incredible beauty and of course, the food. However, we didn’t start there. Instead, we began speaking of the grit required to live in that culture—sagas of a head-on collision; our day in court; an unintended run-in with the law; the arduous process of getting “resident status;” securing a driver’s license; buying property; owning a car; financial issues; the wear and tear of travel—ordinary stuff like that. Gettting dirt beneath our fingernails. Those painful stories have actually become funny in retrospect, making for light-hearted chit-chat. Andrew took it all in but remained undaunted, still determined to somehow make that dream come true. Oddly enough, his enthusiasm actually seemed to increase with each humorously disturbing story, as we chuckled together and rolled our eyes at how absurd it all is.

On our walk home, we reflected on the stories and details we chose to talk about. Over 20 years ago, we too had a dream to live as much like true Italians as possible. Travel is fun, but living as a local means to dig down into the nitty-gritty of everyday life. That deep excavation into ourselves and the Italian culture has certainly been fascinating. Yes, we imagined challenges, but many were far beyond our naïve imaginings. Way beyond. We discovered that we needed unwavering vision, persistence, patience and humility—we call it GRIT.

Along with every challenge someone also graced our lives. Wonderful Italians showed-up time and again to help us over the hurdles, past the roadblocks and through the confusion. There was always an Italian angel alongside our clumsy actions appearing like a reflection in the old stone walls, offering advice and inspiration. We couldn’t have gotten through it without them! Italians to the rescue.

As we talked more about the conversation with Andrew, we realized that GRIT and GRACE were two characteristics of any major endeavor. Italy is just one example. No matter what dream has captured your attention, whether starting a business, getting married, having children or moving to another country, GRIT and GRACE are certain to always show-up as faithful traveling companions.

First there’s a rough-hewn dream. As we dig deeper, reality sets in and naïveté stubbornly relinquishes its hold. Then GRACE swoops in to magically make everything somehow work together. And another incredible adventure unfolds!

Grace—”I let the stone reflect like a window pane, in the Tuscan hills.”

Following are two musical stories we wrote along the way. They each take turns with different ways to describe what GRIT and GRACE can look like in the day to day—maybe you can relate?

Tuscan Hills

Gracefully