Treinta Amigos

Amazing!  Over the past 40 weeks here in Spain, I’ve hosted 30 friends and family!  I feel very blessed to have so many good friends who would take the time and effort to visit me here and allow me to show them my Spain.

Spain has always been a special place for me.  Many of you know this story, but some may not.  When my father was a resident he contracted tuberculosis.  In those days, recuperation required a lengthy bedrest.  An occupational therapist suggested to him that he choose something he could study while he was bedridden.  He began to paint and to study Goya.  Years later, when he had the money, my Dad wanted to go to Madrid to see Goya’s paintings in the Prado, and the whole family went.  Boom!  It was just like that – I was in love.  Just a year or so later, I declared Spanish to be my high school major and decided I would attend Newcomb College where I could take advantage of the Junior Year Abroad program to study in Spain.  The rest is my history.

I cried when I left Spain after my junior year, and I cried when I left Spain after Ellen and I spent a year on the Costa del Sol, and I’m crying now.  I suppose I feel a bit like what I read transsexuals feel (I don’t mean to trivialize their issues), but they say they feel they were born with the wrong body.  I feel like I was born in the wrong place.

I’m sorry to leave my lovely apartment, the town of Begur, and the friends I’ve made.  I’m certain I’ll be back!  Hasta luego…