yesterday, i visited 2 friends in madrid. :D since i am a slacker, i ended up taking a bus. i probably could have gotten just as good a deal on flights and/or train, but like i said, i'm a slacker so waiting 3 days before my trip to buy tickets didn't exactly land me with the most options. oh well. i'm young. flexible. what's the big deal. 8 hours on a bus over night... NBD. (no big deal.) well, that would have been the case had i not come down with a fever 4 hours before my departure time. literally. at the end of church, i was buttoning up my cardigan, which is an EXTREMELY rare case. everyone else was complaining of it being hot. and me, sitting there kinda chilly, knew sometime was wrong at that moment. someone even commented on me not wearing my sandals. (hmm... is it that obvious?! heh.)
well, i am blessed to be in this community of people! everyone came to my rescue. some ibuprofen from one family. some extra for later. some water from another. went back to a friend's apartment before departure for a rest and some tea. i couldn't rearrange this trip. there was so much out of my control. but, midnight came around and i boarded my bus. Guess what?! Nobody was in the seat next to me! I got to "sprawl out" between the two seats. so i learned that leaning your head against the window isn't exactly the best idea, seeing as how you feel every bump. so i rested my head on my (new, really cute, inadvertantly children's) backpack. much better!
personally, i like the curtains.
i finally got to madrid. i was so excited! but i had just enough time to kill so after a quick ride on the metro (though i learned later that it could have been shorter...) i was in town! i scoped out where i would be meeting them and then went to grab some breakfast: café con leche y croissant con jamón y queso. and of course, some sudoku.
and then, it happened! a sweet reunion! it started with a big hug, a much needed hug from home. we all remembered talking about some slim possibility that we´d see each other in spain. but didn't really expect to. but i knew if they were in spain, i'd find a way to see them. we spent the day walking around the city. taking breaks to eat delicious snacks, drink tea, and just soak it all in. it was so good to just be with them that i almost forgot i wasn't feeling well. i even got to nap a while in their hotel room while they continued seeing the sights. i was out. the jack hammering didn't bother me one bit. i'm serious. that's how tired my body was. well, we enjoyed some tapas for din din and then they accompanied me back to my bus stop. whaddddup?!
where all the roads start from...
sitting on a bench by el parque del buen retiro sharing some napolitanos... just people watching :)
on my walk back from the train station this morning... before sunrise :)
ok so there was a lot more that happened between snacks and the sunrise, but i can't do everything! just know that it included laughing, story telling, life sharing, tea drinking, walking, spanish speaking and quizzing, and spirit refreshing!
but seriously, it was such a reminder that i am so blessed to have the people that are in my life in my life. and even though i've been gone for a bit, it's like nothing has changed within our friendship. the beauty of friendships, for sure. i look all around me and feel blessed by the way that people have loved me. my cousins. my parents and sissy at home. my new friends here. the church community here. my friends at home. the church community at home. it's just really important to have people in your life. my hardest days here are when i feel alone and misunderstood. i think those are the hardest days for everyone. but then i remember how much i have and am thankful. for it is the people in my life who have made it worthwhile. and it's the people who i keep meeting that keep in interesting. <3
"turns out not where but who you're with that really matters..." will i ever get too old to quote dmb? i don't think so.
No comments:
Post a Comment