Everywhere I Go, There You Are

I've always thought the old adage, “Everywhere you go, there you are,” was particularly true.  No matter where you travel, no matter what new experiences you have, you can’t really fully leave yourself behind. 

On this recent trip to Spain,  I was very aware of another aspect of what it means to be unable to leave one’s self fully behind.  Everywhere I travel, I’m nearly constantly reminded of the people I’ve left.  Everywhere I go, the sights I see, the experiences I have, and the people I see frequently remind me of people from previous places. 

Just to give you some examples. . .

(Cool graffiti in Valincia, Spain.  Call it my Banksey affinity, but I’m always impressed and appreciative when people decide to share their artistic talents in such public spaces.  This certainly fits the “Everywhere you go, there you are” theme, but it’s tone is a bit more ominous than I have in mind.  Oh well!)

Rowan S. and Mom, you were particularly on my mind early on in this journey, with your nudging voices saying, “You should start a blog!” 

Cathy K. and Kayla N., I often thought of you two as we roamed old narrow city streets that are clear reminders that the city was there long before car traffic was, and when I was struck by the intricate beauty of old cathedrals and buildings, and as we saw reminders of a powerfully imperial past in ancient castles and towers.  You came to mind because when I asked you how you remembered Spain from your time there, you both used the word “romantic,” which I found intriguing but I didn’t really understand how a place could be romantic.  Now I do.  You were right to use that particular word. 

(The edge of the older part of Valencia.  Notice the chaos of the buildings beyond this point.  Wonderful for wandering around with your mouth agape. Not so wonderful to navigate in a car if you don’t know the place really, really well.)

                                                                                                              

(More from Valencia.  Notice the Oranges on the trees?  Although Valencia Oranges are named after this region, they actually began in California – sez Wikipedia.  Even though the trademarked Valencia Oranges actually have very little to do with the region in Spain, there are a ton growing here, both commercially and ornamentally.  And they were indeed delicious!)

(“Now Bernadette.  I know your dress is a few centuries out of fashion, but there’s no sense losing your head over it.”)

(This is the Santa Elena tower and overlooks the Puerta de Mazarron, where we stayed.  It  was first constructed between 1556 and 1558 and was used to monitor maritime traffic and alerted the area to approaching pirate raids using smoke and fire.  The tower was renovated during the 18th century and remained active into the 19th .  The picture on the bottom is next to the tower, looking back on Puerta de Mazarron)

This graffiti gave me a huge smile and a pang in my heart when I saw it.  This was how my homegirl Amelia pronounced my name for the longest time during those precious days when I lived just a few blocks away from her in Laramie and she was just learning to talk.  Seeing it out of the blue on a city street was a sweet reminder of her.  No idea what “Chuli” actually means in Spanish, however.  Michele S. – any insight? (Fingers crossed that it’s not anything too terribly profane!)



  I thought of Heidi H. and cousin Tessa helping to take care of the passel of kittens at Cody when this little guy greeted us our first morning after arriving in Spain.  He was there to say Hi pretty much every other morning, too!  It was our neighbor’s cat named Dudley.
                                                                                                                                                               

I thought of my Dad each time I hiked up to the point near our apartment.  The only time my Dad is not on the lookout for creatures, critters, birds, animals, or reptiles is pretty much when he’s sleeping.  I know I've picked up this habit from him.  Almost every time I’ve come back from a long drive, walk, or a run and  he asks me me, “Did you see anything?” which is really code for, “Did you see any animals?”  So, for your information Dad: I was disappointed both times on the hike because I only saw the flicker of the shadow of a lizard out of the corner of my eye once.  The region is so extremely arid, even the rocks seems so dry that it feels like they’ve been through a kiln, so maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised at the lack of animal life above ground during the daylight hours during the relatively brief hikes. 
                                                                                                          

(A sweaty morning selfie at the top after I hiked up by myself another morning.)

I got up early one morning and decided to hike back up the point again by myself.  At least I thought I was by myself.  When I got to the top, I looked down at my feet and there was Axel!  So, Aaron, Karin, and Axel M., you were with me.



My numerous running buddies, especially Pennie V. and Kate M. were with me when I would head out for a morning run, because I know they get how there are few better ways to enjoy a place than stepping out for a cool morning run. 

                         

(Looking out from where my runs started, then taking a break and the view from my turn-around point)

Kate, even Killer Dog was with me when we saw this beautiful border collie playing with a group of boys near the beach when we were out for supper.  The boy were running around, laughing, screaming, giving him pets, jumping around; but he was fully and completely focused on one thing only – that ball.  They would bounce it in front of him and then he would jump up in the air and bop it high back into the air with his nose.  Neither the boys nor the dog could enough of it!  Remind you of some fluffy someone, Kate?! 

                                            

Mindy B., you can probably already guess why you were constantly on my mind.  Yep.   I was wishing (yet again!) that I’d take the opportunity to work on my Spanish when I lived with you.  But, Aunt Kim was definitely with me, as I was grateful for the bit of vocabulary I retained from my time with her in Argentina.  Mindy, you’ll be happy to know that I finally found green olives here that I LOVE and I could not get enough of them!! 



And of course, we had some truly terrific paella (A delicious rice, saffron, and whatcha-got mixture that’s a specialty in Spain).



I thought about my ever-growing passel of nieces and nephews when we were hanging out on the beach because it would have been perfect for hanging out with them, too.  The waves were very timid and small and the water remained shallow for a LONG way out.  I never did find a spot that I couldn’t touch. 

(I took very few pictures hanging out at the beach.  Which is a good sign I was probably WAY to relaxed to care about pictures.)

So if you are reading this blog, and you currently are not near the part of the world where I am, don’t worry.  I’ll probably run into you at some point along my travels, even if it’s just a random odd thing that reminds me of you.  Everywhere I go, there you are.