The Blue Stripe Blog

Sometimes I think I should re-name this blog “The Blue Stripe Blog.”

I mean, it’s no secret how much I love blue-striped things. My closet is comprised of many a blue-and-white-stripe button down (it’s actually kind of insane). This dress (borrowed from my sister) proved to be no exception. And the Duomo couldn’t be a more perfect backdrop!

Before I move on to the pretty pictures, I want to take a small detour from the usual glam of an outfit post to talk about a thought that I have been chewing on since our recent trip to Italy (Ciao, Tess and Guido!). In between spending time with my sister and prepping for her wedding, my family and I went on many walks around Florence.

On one particular walkabout, Guido’s mother (Maddelena, the sweetest, kindest woman you could imagine) took us on a tour of the Duomo, the main cathedral of Florence. I had studied this church in high school and had seen it in person before. But I had never heard about its history from someone who has lived one block away from it her whole life.

Of course the architecture of this building is incredible, and, as you can see from the pictures, it’s gorgeous. I mean, come on, the facade is made of 3 types of marble (pink, green and white). But Maddalena also told us about its rich history, and the part that has really stuck with me is this: construction began in 1296, but the structure was not completed until the year 1436. That means this building took 140 years to build.

Let’s pause for a minute on that.

One hundred and forty years.

The people who broke ground on the project were not the same people who cut the ribbon on opening day. In fact, the original architect died a mere 14 years after the first stone was laid. As construction continued over the next decade or so (except for those few years where not much was happening on account of the Black Death) many architects, designers, and engineers would come and go. But only a lucky few would be around when it was finished.

It’s incredible to me that you could spend not just a year, not even a decade, but maybe your entire life working on something you’d never witness the completion of.

There is something so sweet about that to me. Something so selfless.

There are few projects in my life that can keep my attention for longer than a couple weeks. If I have to wait longer than a few seconds for a browser to load, I’m ready to burn my house to the ground.

Look, maybe these workers didn’t stay on for longer than a few weeks. Maybe they were just in it because it paid the bills. But if I have a point to this story, which maybe I don’t, it’s that I’m choosing to believe it’s possible to give yourself over to something so fully, so passionately, that you pour everything you’ve got into it, and receive none of the glory. As opposed to my typical thinking of, “give me all the credit, and give it to me now.” Perhaps something to strive for in this lifetime.

Anyway, hope that wasn’t too deep of a rabbit hole for you this Wednesday morning. Onto the pretty pictures!