The Italian American Inspiration

It's been a while since my last post.  And I feel bad about that.  Friends would ask why I wasn't posting anything, and I would just shrug my shoulders.  Sure, I was busy (who isn't), but that really wasn't the reason I wasn't blogging.  My blogging spark fizzled out.  Nothing was able to light the fuse.  But I finally found a flame...in Italy.

No, it wasn't the food (which I didn't think was that great), or culture, or nice looking young Italians (more on that another time).  It wasn't the constant second-hand smoke coming off every Italian's cigarette (what's up with that?)  It was a man named Paul.  

We flew thousands and thousands of miles to celebrate his 80th birthday.  Here in Illinois, we live about 2 hours from Paul.  But he wanted to celebrate his birthday in the small village where his parents were born.  And so off we went over the ocean for a birthday party.  And so did 300 other people from around the world.

I have always been a believer in you get what you give, good karma, what-comes-around-goes-around...whatever you want to call it.  I just hadn't seen it on the scale that was apparent at the party....every person in attendance was there because Paul helped them, inspired them, taught them a valuable life lesson.  

As a college professor, Paul is in a good position to do this.  He interfaces with hundreds of different people each week, so many of whom are eager to learn from him whether they are 20 or 50 years old.  What's different about Paul is that he goes above and beyond what so many professors do, so that when he has a birthday party on a different continent, people update their passports and fly 10 hours to attend.

Whether it's the Italian in him or the American in him or the Midwest in him or just him, I'm inspired.  And so because of Paul, I'm back to blogging.  And from here forward, I'm going to focus on what I know...the science of food and nutrition and how it can improve lives.  It is my hope that I can teach, inspire, or help others live healthier lives by discussing new research studies and myths about diet and health.   

And mark your calendars for December, 2051!  European location, TBD.  :)