Call it the good life.

My amore mio and I have a transnational/international relationship. We aren't legally hitched. But we'd have no objection to marriage. If there weren't so many complications.  Maybe some day it'll all be ironed out. And become crystal clear. And practical. And the right thing to do. But now, we don't know how we'd be received. In Italy. In America. We would like to retain citizenship in our own countries.  I suppose dual citizenship would be nice. For both of us. So that we could easily go back and forth.  In an increasingly global world.  But maybe we are expecting too much. Especially considering that it's a bureaucratic world. We like each other's culture. We are personally able to blend the two. Nicely. Even if married, we would probably live apart. For much of the year. But we would live together, too. In America. In Italy. Sounds like the ideal life. For both of us. The best of two worlds. I'd like to think that all this is possible.  But it's a complicated world. However, a world that keeps coming closer together.  We see each other every day. If not in the flesh, on Skype. Next Tuesday, I'll hop on a plane in Sardinia. At 6:30 a.m. And by 5 p.m. (Minnesota time) I'll be back home. Flitting back and forth between two countries and living together in two different places, ain't all that expensive. Mostly, the air fares. Otherwise, we live fairly economically. We own our own homes. Another thing. We respect each other's independence. And careers. Me, as a writer. Cristina as a teacher of English and English literature.  Believe me, it's true love. Between a writer and a teacher. Between an American and an Italian. Really, we are living a de facto international marriage. Call it the good life. --Jim Broede