Het geluk van een kopje koffie

In maart van dit jaar dronk Saskia bij haar thuis in Amsterdam koffie met de Italiaanse fotograaf Gabriele Galimberti, die voor illy bij mensen over de hele wereld op bezoek gaat om een bijzonder koffiemoment vast te leggen. De bedoeling van dit coffee surfing project: leg het geluk van een kopje koffie vast, zowel in beeld als in woorden.

Dat eerste deed Gabriele, dat tweede mocht Saskia zelf doen. In het Engels wel, zodat zoveel mogelijk mensen ervan kunnen meegenieten. Uiteraard deelt ze haar story of happiness ook graag met jullie:

‘Since I can read I devour stories, novels, magazines, newspapers and – since the internet coming up into my life during high school – blogs. I read during my first cup of coffee in the morning, during lunch, in between two boring tasks, before I go to sleep and on my way to family and friends. Sometimes I even miss some hours of sleep or the right stop because the story gripped me.

Books make me happy, and since I was young I was dreaming of writing my own book. Not the result made me dream, but the process: being free to take your own time, to organize your day according to inspiration and ideas, to work all night when everybody else sleeps. Last year this dream came true: I was asked to write a book about my other passion: Italy.

I was excited and immediately started writing. I forgot about everything else, until my stomach reminded me of preparing a proper meal. Days went by, in a very nice rhythm. After a first coffee in the morning inspiration came immediately to accompany me during the rest of the day, and the Italian stories did the same. In case of a lack of inspiration, there was another coffee, or later in the afternoon, a glass of wine to make me write again.

I soon developed a working rhythm that resembled more or less a day at the office – and I slept at night, after reading some stories of others so I would not dream of my own written pages. I finished the last pages of the book in Florence, feeling utterly happy with my new life as a writer.

After the first book more requests followed and now I can live my life following my biggest passions. I write about Italy all day, and by doing so I have to read and travel a lot. I can write everywhere, so once in while I pick my suitcase and laptop and go to breathe some Italian air and taste some real Italian food. When I come back, I not only carry with me fresh pasta, olive oil and limoncello, but also thousands of stories of happiness. Stories to remind, to tell, to make people smile.

Stories that made me happy and with whom I can make other people happy, delivering some Italian sunshine to their library or on their screen. As I happily do now, for all people around the world searching for happiness. Believe in your dreams, take a sip of coffee in the morning and just go, following your passion and finding on your way the most intense feeling of happiness! Good luck!’

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