The Window Is Always Smaller Than You Think · Week 33
By Luca Bonafede · August 16, 2026 ·
A lot can happen in a week.
There is a moment in every great place when you know it’s time to go. It doesn’t come when things get boring or when the magic starts to fade. It comes right at the top, when one more day would still feel amazing. That is when I said goodbye to Twillingate. It kept surprising me more every single time, and I left at the peak of the peak, which is exactly how I like to leave my favourite places, or as many places as possible.
On one of those last nights I drove to the lighthouse in the dark. Twillingate is full of live folk music, and I enjoyed plenty of it, but the song that defines my week is the one playing in my car on that road: “New Religion” by Bebe Rexha and Faithless (2026), built on “Insomnia,” the Faithless classic from 1995. It was a fantastic rhythm in a fantastic location. I didn’t record any of it and didn’t plan any of it. I was just there.
That’s the thing about windows. Some of them open for years, and others open for one night. On my way down, a fortunate turn of events had me staying overnight in Clarenville for the very first time. It was one night in a town I will most likely never pass through again, in a part of the island I probably won’t come back to. It’s easy to think a night like that doesn’t count, but it was my goodbye to the whole north, and I’m glad I lived it fully.
During a run this week I held a minute of silence for all the missed opportunities we let slide by in Life. So much passes us by simply because we hesitate to act, as if there will always be a next moment, a second chance, a later. There rarely is. The window is almost always smaller than we think. Sometimes it’s a day, sometimes an hour, and sometimes it’s one sentence you either say or don’t. Once it closes, it’s gone forever. No replay, no rewind. Do it. Do it. Do it now.
Every now and then, though, Life plays a different game. Over four years ago, while I was working at Hard Rock Cafe in Amsterdam, I had a random encounter. This week, that encounter became a reality in St. John’s, and I spent a few days in the city with this dear person. To some people that might sound strange, but it’s simply how my Life works. Paths cross in one corner of the world and meet again years later in another, as if no time had passed at all. Some windows close forever, and a few stay open, quietly waiting for the right moment. I guess that’s the power of social media.
Then we hit the road east together. It was my first time ever driving a Bronco. For some reason I expected a smoother drive, but maybe I’ve just gotten too used to German cars.
Our first stop was Elliston, to finally see the super famous puffins. Once again, wildlife and I didn’t quite click.
Then came Bonavista. I had wanted to go there since the day I landed on the island, for one simple reason: the name is so similar to my last name. On Saturday evening I ate so much food that by the time I reached the hotel I thought I was pregnant.
Looking back, this week was also a reminder of how often Life blesses us with the best things that never happened. Sometimes we push so hard for something, and the planets just don’t align. Let it be. The planets will align again at some point, either for what you wanted or for something even better.
Doing it and letting it be might sound like opposites, but they aren’t. You jump through the window the moment it opens, and then you let go of where you land. You hold the outcome the way you would hold water: in an open hand, never in a fist. I can say, with some honesty, that I lived this way about 90% of the week, and I couldn’t be prouder. My motto stays the same: quick actions, figure out the consequences later.
I started the week super athletic, with more personal records, and I ended it food pregnant in a town that almost shares my name. I think that is part of Life at times, and it made this somehow-cold summer absolutely unforgettable.
A lot can happen in a week.
Thank you, and ciao for now.
Luca Bonafede
Twillingate NL, Clarenville, Elliston, Bonavista, St.John's, Canada 🇨🇦
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