No Ordinary day

Elana Rossi walked out the funky shaped door of her apartment and headed down the street to catch the Metro 2 to work.

Her job at the Missoni Clothing Boutique as a stock person and part time stylist had been her life for the last two years. She loved the colors and textures, and even the smell of the store. Her favorite days were when she would have a client to dress, for an impending vacation. Those customers knew and loved the beautiful fabrics as much as Elana, and would tell her all about their travels. She longed for an exciting life.

As a young student of fashion at the Istituto Marangoni in Milan, she dreamed of having her own fashion house someday. But knew she had to earn her way up.

While she wore many of the fashions from Missoni, she mostly picked them up on the sale rack or made her own clothes from vintage mixes of fabrics she would pick up on her trips to the flea market.

Elana felt lucky to have found a job in fashion, even if it wasn’t exactly developing runway designs.

Yet.

Elana’s days were mostly the same. She had ridden on the same train and sat in the same seat for two years. She would arrive at work, eat at the same lunch place everyday, or walk to the nearby park to sit and eat and feed the pigeons. No love life. Somehow she was stuck.

Elana boarded the train, that typical Tuesday, but there was an old woman sitting in her favorite seat. Elena was slightly surprised, then annoyed, and took the seat behind her. She sat behind the old woman and glared into the back of her neck. The woman magically got off at the next stop close to the Duomo.

Elana happily jumped into the seat. But she sat on something. A black, leather bound journal type notebook. It looked fairly new, and she opened the front to see if there was a name inside.

In beautifully handwritten scroll-

“This is for you.”

She turned the page.

“Yes. You.”

Startled, Elana looked around, seeking eyes that might be watching her. No one.

She sat and flipped through the notebook. Not many notes inside, but a few ripped out pages. The third page had a longer, handwritten message.

~My Dear,

I have been watching you for the last two years. You are always well dressed, on time, and polite. You keep your head down and look at your phone the whole journey to your job. You are missing this big beautiful world around you.

I am at the end of my days, wishing I would have used my youth better to conquer all the dreams I once had.

You still have time.

Today, I took away your chance to have another same day.

I have left clues and money for you, all over this city.

Money that will go towards your dream of a big fashion career.

Clues that will show you; what you’ve been missing.

Look in the back of this book to start.

Take some notes of your journey, and draw some of your ideas in this book.

Enjoy,~

Taped to the inside cover, was an envelope with one ticket to the Poldi Pezzoli Museum. Written on a ripped piece of the notebook paper enclosed was a note.

~I suggest spending the day on the ground floor, looking at all of the patterns, colors and details in the armor, rugs and fabrics on display. Take a moment to inspect the trash can, in the west corner of the Tissue room. There is a special something for you, attached to the back. The Black room also has some beauty you should see.~

Elana called in sick to her job that day for the first time ever. She rode the metro to the Museum and handed over the ticket to the clerk. Her eyes were abuzz with the sights.

Why had she never been here before? The intricate designs of each of the swords and armour pieces. Someone had pain painstakingly carved each to perfection. The colors and patterns she saw, inspired her and she sat in the Hall of the Fresco and copied patterns, and shapes she liked.

She wandered slowly through the ground floor to the Tissue room. It was smaller than the other rooms, with panels of delicately made fabrics. Some were colorful, and there were a lot of patterns she hadn’t seen before. She finished looking around and waited until she was alone in the room to walk to the West side garbage can. Reaching behind it, she felt an envelope taped to the back. She pulled slowly so as not to make much noise. Inside was another ripped page from the book, with a note and a cashier cheque for 17,000 Euro.

Shocked, Elana stood back and almost fainted.

She put the cheque in her purse and sat down on a bench in the lobby. She read the note.

~Your next destination is the Museo Teatrale alla Scala. The great opera house museum has an exhibition called the Turandot alla Scala right now. They are showing the most beautiful selection of costumes, from many of the opera’s in years past. Look to the glamour, the opulence. Think about how you would dress someone in the theatre.

Your ticket also includes a personal guided tour of all aspects of the theatre, from the Ansaldo Scala Workshop studio to the private box tour.

Your next note will be in the Royal box, the last box you visit,

Ask to be left alone to enjoy the space, and take in all of the details of the great hall. Under chair 1, you will find your next clue.~

Elana made her way to the Museo Teatrale, and handed the ticket to the person in the box office. She was told to come back after she had experienced the exhibition to have her personal tour.

She loved seeing all of the costumes, the different materials that were used, and she felt the emotions that were conveyed so beautifully in clothing form. She imagined what the shows might have been like, and how heavy these costumes would be to wear.

She sketched a few designs into the pages of her book, and walked back to the box office for the tour.

A nice young man named Davide was her guide. He was an actor, who did this position on the side in between roles. They walked together, and Elena found herself smiling as he talked, not just because she was listening to the very interesting facts from a very cute and nice Italian man, but because she was on a secret adventure.

They reached the Royal box, and Elena stood facing the stage. She asked to be alone, and Davide agreed to leave her for five minutes, as any more time, he may be questioned.

She sat in seat number one, and felt underneath the seat. Again, an envelope, a cashier's cheque for 17,000EUR and a note. The cashier's cheque was placed into her purse and she read the note.

~My Dear, I hope you have enjoyed your adventure so far, but you are not done yet. Every day I have traveled with you, you stare at your phone past the most beautiful building in our Milan. It’s time you got to know the Duomo. Here is a ticket for admission and a rooftop tour. Under the great Madonnina, on the public rooftop, you will see some scaffolding. The Madonnina will be easy to see, golden and adorned with our flag today in celebration. Find scaffolding set seven, and you will see a First aid box. Your last note will be inside.

The Duomo is an icon, a holy place where dreamers have gone for centuries. Dreamers have built it with their own two hands. It is always under construction, as are we all.

To the Duomo.~

Elana said goodbye to Davide and walked outside. She was hungry and needed to eat something. Today had been a big day so far. She walked to the closest sandwich shop and ordered a Sacconi. Beef, eggplant, zucchini on a rustic bun. She drank a pellegrino and walked toward the Duomo.

It was a beautiful day in April. It had been a while since she had really walked the city on purpose. Mostly she was going to work, or errands. She thought about what the sponsor had said, about missing out on the world around her. She was right.

What a gift this was. How would she ever be able to repay the generosity of this anonymous person. The woman who sat in her seat today. She prayed she would see her again.

Elana made her way to the Duomo, really seeing her city for the first time. The Piazza de Duomo was packed with tourists, locals and pigeons, but she walked carefully through them all.

Nearing the entrance, it was late afternoon. She remembered coming here with her mother many years ago as a child. Everything was so big then, and she hadn’t developed the appreciation of design yet. Again, Elena wondered what had taken her so long to find this place.

She wandered the halls of the museum, taking in all of the pieces of art, the beautiful carvings and the rich colors that cascaded from the rooms. Stained glass was everywhere, and even though it was darker inside, the colors made up the difference. The elegant black marble floors, and rich red fabrics, enveloped her visual senses. Hours were spent in minutes and the final tour of the rooftop was called.

She climbed the stairs to the rooftop entrance and was met with blue sky and spires.

White marble with tinges of orange and blue, carved meticulously into people, animals, and exquisite designs. Gargoyles and figures looked out onto the city, protecting the people below.

Inspiring. She had never seen the city like this, looking down at the Piazza, and seeing the modern geometrics mixed with the medieval sculptures of past centuries, yet it made total sense.

She sat on a flat roof section, amongst the other tourists and took out her notebook to sketch what she saw.

The sun was setting and bright oranges and pinks were starting to appear. She made her way to the Madonnina and stood underneath her. Many of the tourists had left, others were getting photographs of the sunset, with spires in the foreground.

The scaffolding sat, paint balded from the weather. More utility than beauty, it had a job.

Attached to the back right side was a metal sleeve containing a first aid kit. She saw them on all of the structures, but this one had a secret. Just for her.

She looked around, and no one seemed to be watching her. She reached up behind and slid the box out of the sleeve and sat it down on the bench nearby.

Another note and cheque.

What had she done to deserve this? Stare at her phone for hours, days on end, so much so, that an old woman would feel sorry for her?

It was odd but she hadn’t looked at her phone the whole day.

She placed the cheque in her purse, saw a train ticket to Bologna, then Prato and some hotel reservations. She read the note.

~One last adventure. You have learned today, about beauty, history and what is possible when someone dreams about something. Take the money you have found, put it away until after your last mission. Go to Prato, to see the beautiful fabrics available to you now. They use old to make new. Play. Make a plan. Look at the world around you. Be inspired. Don’t forget that someone believes in you.

Dream.

Design.

Do.

Love, Adora~

Elana opened her Adora la veste clothing shop one year later, to wide acclaim. Her rich fabrics, with historical patterns dazzle like no other.