I’m slowly making my way south. Today I watched goats, grape vines and sunflowers from the train to Sicily. The sunflowers were enormous—elephant stalks, brown centers, yellow petals frantic for sun. Their keening was so palpable I turned away. The wizened old couple sitting across from me mistook my response for thirst and offered me their flask of ice water. I took it and bowed my head thank you. The man had a face lined with furrows, the kind made by a team of oxen laboring over a field. The woman’s cheeks were smooth but the rest of her face was a cobweb of lines. Their eyes rested on my nose ring and slid away unhurried, unapologetic. I let them. I am allowing everything.