Tomorrow is the day. My beloved and I will be going to Motovun. She will stay with me through the weekend, and then she will return to Zagreb. Both of us are aware of the pain to come. Just like so many past years in a row, it has been with us for several weeks already. Having spent three months together, we have hard time thinking about living alone for a stretch. We do not know how long the coming separation will be, but it cannot be shorter than several weeks. Wow! A trip abroad awaits her, and this will help fill the void. In fact, she planned the trip so as to lessen her anxiety about our separation.

Return to Motovun will help fill the void in my case. In spite of the hilltown’s slow ways, things cannot but be changing there, too. Only this morning I received the news that a friend of mine has moved her shop from one location to another. As changes go, this is a big one by local standards. Anyhow, I would not be surprised by many other changes that will attract my attention. The new mayor will complete his first year in a couple of months, and much has already happened under his leadership. Much more is expected, and soon.

Still, I am aware of my yearning for my beloved in the weeks to come. It will be ever harder to live so far from her. When the yearning becomes too powerful to bear, I will hop on a bus and head for Zagreb. And this is how the whole year will pass. I spent six periods in Zagreb last year, and eight the year before. Just like this year, the longest period was during the winter months. In some way, both my beloved and I are thus looking forward to the next winter even before this winter’s end. That is, to Christmas and New Year’s, when our longest period together actually starts. This is how it has been the last five or six years, and this is how will be in the years to come. Alas!