Thoughts and Reflections

A friend of mine recently asked me some interesting questions that caused me to reflect. 

1. What have I enjoyed about my time here that I did not expect?  I had to think about this one for a while.  Sure there are the obvious things anyone would probably expect moving to an interesting and culturally rich city such as Sevilla.  The food, the music, the architecture, the Spanish customs, the immersion, the language, the travel, the utter novelty, and of course, the rare opportunity to not have to work.

But what did I not expect?  Following a relatively lazy morning this week having a long breakfast with a friend it dawned on me. Time.  Simply having time.  The luxury of time to have a 2 hour breakfast and never look at my watch.  To go to the park everyday with the kids.  Time to think, read, write, learn Spanish, annoy my wife for sport, whatever.  This is what I bought.

It’s amazing to me that we have already been here for almost 2 months.  This trip was a very long time coming.  The amount of preparation for this trip bordered on the ridiculous.  I left a good job working with good people, sold my car, sold our house, shed untold amounts of belongings, and turned our life utterly inside out.  Some people didn’t get it.  Why?  For me it was simple.  I simply couldn’t continue to plug along in the trenches of human suffering indefinitely.  I needed to step away, get out of the hospital for a while, and regain some perspective.  And I don’t regret it.

I had big plans for this trip.  Intensive Spanish instruction, extensive European travel, cooking, lots of writing, etc.  Once again, the check-box mentality a lot of us can relate to.  Now that I have been here a while and my mind has slowed down a bit these plans have been moderated.  Sure, I want to pick up some Spanish, learn to cook Solomillo al whiskey, write and do some traveling, but chill out man, take it slow.  Poco a poco as they say here.  It took me about 6 weeks to get to this point and it feels good.

2.  What has been a challenge that I did not expect?  Interestingly, it turns out the biggest hassle has been completing the day to day, no brainer, routine errands we all take for granted in the good ole’ US of A.  Need milk on a Sunday?  Sorry, all the grocery stores are closed.  The kids will just have to drink water.  Want internet for your laptop?  Sure, after 3 exasperating days of dealing with inept Vodafone store employees (who were probably former shaken babies), multiple technical support phone calls, then finally connecting with the one person in the company with two brain cells to rub together, it gets done.  For a recovering Type A, get-r-done, to-do list making nutcase, this is challenging.

3.  Is Ali pregnant?  This was the easy one: NO.  Two drooling, screaming, histrionic, near-psychopathic at times preschoolers is enough for now thank you.

Time marches on and I look forward to whatever lies ahead for us in Sevilla.  My goals, simple as they may be, are not so much to emulate “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski, but to enjoy this down time and this unique place as much as possible.  If in the process I learn a little Spanish and make a few less to-do lists then all the better.


-Dave