In December, 2022, I printed out a monthly calendar for 2023 and started filling it in. January: My sister Meg was coming to visit. March: My parents. May: Michael and I were going to New York for a wedding and California to visit family. July: Dad was coming out to walk another section of the…
Tag: Spain
Signs of Spring
On our terrace, the first poppy has bloomed and the irises are only days away from bursting open. The afternoon sun makes our living room so warm that Michael has to pull down the shades. But my favorite sign of spring’s impending arrival? The local artisanal ice cream shop has opened. When I walked in…
Saturday Lunch (Random Roadside Restaurant in Spain version)
After taking our drink orders, the waiter returned with a Coca-cola Zero, a flask of wine, and two tall glasses, scratched from years of use. I wondered why he didn’t bring a wine glass as I pulled the cork from the flask. “How does that work again?” Michael asked me, eyeing the flask. “How do…
Four Years Ago
Four years ago: An alarm on my phone would sound at 9pm reminding me it was time to get ready for bed. Today: I rarely go to sleep before midnight. Four years ago: My vacation dates were pretty much the same time as every other teacher and every family with school-age children in the US….
Best Moments of 2023
As usual, they are in no particular order. . . Every moment spent with Meg on her second European adventure. (With special thanks to her for putting up with her sometimes-too-moody eldest sister. And a big hug for saying, “This time, let’s go to a place you haven’t been.” And thus we spent a wonderful…
A First Time For Everything
“You are so lucky, kid,” I told my youngest sister Meg as we stood in St. Peter’s Square, the basilica looming over us. “You will never see it like this ever again.” It was January, 2022. By this point, we’d taken COVID tests in three different countries. In the coming days, we’d stand in an…
Lunches, Liquor and Other Rabbit Holes
“I just finished my small lunch,” Ricardo said. I knew what he meant. He had just finished his almeurzo. If you look up the English translation, it will say, “lunch.” But in Valencia, Spain (where Ricardo lives), it is definitely not lunch. Almuerzo consists of a small sandwich accompanied by a glass of wine or…
License to Drive (Part 2)
I looked at the street sign and realized I had no idea what it meant. An orange oval lay on its side attached to the horizontal orange line below it. This structure hovered over a black axle with a wheel on either side. Below all of this were three squiggly black lines. I was certain…
License to Drive (Part 1)
I am proficient enough in Spanish to read posters on the streets and emails confirming appointments. But I am certainly not proficient enough to navigate the questions asked on the Spanish driving test. So I took the test in English. And I’m not sure that was any easier. It seems they’ve used Google translate. The…
Thanksgiving Compromises
“She’s bringing potato smoothies?” Michael asked. “Smoothies? Where did she say that?” I asked while scrolling through the messages in our Thanksgiving 2023 WhatsApp group. “Patatas batidos,” Michael said. “I looked it up — it means potato smoothies.” “But did you read what she wrote right after that?” I translated it for Michael. “She says…
