Europe Trip #1 - Gifts Of This Moment

Travel cracks you open. Discomfort, strange food, so many unknowns; it’s unsettling and sometimes scary.

Each of the five of us have had melting moments in this trip, which is hard.

But this day, in this moment, I’m grateful for two things:

1) Realizing that I can’t always “fix” what is broken. It may be that there’s nothing to fix, or it may be that it isn’t mine to fix, but there are times when all I can do is sit by you and hold you and tell you how much I love you. It may not be enough and that has to be okay.

2) I have found things to love in every place we have traveled, but Madrid will always hold a sweet spot in my heart. It was my first time on a plane, my first travel to another world of churros y chocolate, crusty bread for breakfast, wandering the streets at all hours of the night, and the wonder of new ways to do everything. Nothing was ever the same after that trip over 30 years ago.

We’ve rested and reset in our Madrid apartment. Today we plan for covid testing tomorrow for Monday’s flight and explore The Prado, the first museum where I stood in front of a painting and wept at its power.

“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” -Earnest Hemingway