Thankful Saturday

Today I am grateful for

- safety during this trip thus far
- excellent food every day
- wonder and awe-filled time with my dear friends
- long car rides with lively, life-reaffirming conversations
- a widening and deeping of my faith and my love of life
- hearing the right songs at just the right time - you're gonna hear me roar! what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. tu recuerdo sigue aquí. An excellent sound track for the journey in stores and restaurants.
- Spain's efficient train system
- a hotel room that has a view of the beach here in San Sebastián
- figuring out how to put accents above letters on my phone and ipad
- having enough courage to walk into random bars and eat fabulous pintxos (tapas)
- communicating what I wanted and needed even though I have lost my voice
- losing my voice has afforded me a day of (mostly) silence and some croaking out words and questions
- what i expect will be more silence tomorrow (who knew that i would have a silent retreat in Spain?)
- the museum where i learned about Basque culture and history
- watching guests arrive at a church for a wedding - such elegance and such high heeled shoes!
- getting away from the guy selling tickets to enter the cathedral after he kept touching my arm... Creepy, really creepy!
- recognizing that even though i brought only a carry on backpack, i have more than enough clothing for the trip (not that i'm planning to get rid of all the clothes i have at home...)
- Rick Steves travel books
- having a friend here with great connections all over Spain in nearly every part of the country and the willingness to make phone calls on my behalf
- seeing Spanish fútbol (soccer) on television in Spain
- figuring out how things work in supermarkets here (in some ways, things are very different here)
- being able to talk to my husband and daughter via facetime. My son didn't answer his phone...
- wi-fi
- comfortable shoes
- unseasonably warm and dry weather
- four more nights
- hope and a future
- love, joy, laughter, hugs, and walking arm in arm