Wanderlust
After several delayed flights we made it home around 3:00 Saturday morning. Or would that be Sunday morning? I'm not sure. I thought it was a different day than it was and wished a friend a late birthday. That turned out to be an early birthday because I didn't know what day it was. I really did enjoy being in the CET time zone, though. I often feel I am lagging behind in my own timezone. I'm never quite on the same rhythm as others. Being 6 hours in the future was like a superpower. No one was waiting on me for anything. When I woke up in the mornings, everyone I know was still tucked in bed and would be for hours. I could go about my whole day while the world I knew was sleeping and not have to be alerted to anything pressing until I was well into my afternoon.
Three weeks was a long trip for me. Traveling has always made me feel unmoored. I feel in my heart I am a wanderer, a free spirit. But when it comes down to it, I get out of sorts when I am out of my comfort zone. I am pretty sure it stems from fear and control issues. Like if I am not in control and in comfortable and known ways of being, then something bad will happen. As if me sitting on the couch in Wears Valley watching Call the Midwife every night is the thing keeping the Earth spinning on its axis. Being able to name it does take away some of its hold. I feel I did much better on this trip than I have on others. When I felt out of sorts, I would just sit with the feeling without giving it too much power until it passed. By the way, this works with pretty much any issue. Emotions and feelings come and go like waves. Instead of trying to figure them out or giving them too much credence, you can just notice and feel and accept and wait for it to pass.
We started out in Granada, Spain. This was our 3rd trip. Our first trip was at the end of 2019, right before the world caught on fire. We were watching one of our favorite travel shows, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, when one of us had the fun idea to pick two numbers that would represent a season and an episode of the show. Our thought being that whatever season and episode our numbers pointed to… we would book a trip there. My favorite number is 2, so I picked Season 2, Episode 2. It was Granada. We had never heard of it before. We watched the episode and then immediately booked our tickets. We experienced kismet when we arrived in Madrid where we stayed the night until our flight to Granada. We went out to walk the city streets and popped into a random cafe to eat. We sat down at a little table to wait for our food and were greeted by this quote on the wall from our friend Anthony: “Let Down Your Guard and Enjoy the Ride.” It felt like a gift and a wink from the Universe. And continues to be a great mantra for me when I start to get tight or stressed and forget that I am always surrounded by adventure and magic, whether at home in Wears Valley or on the other side of the world.
I started out planning to write about our 3-week adventure in Granada, Barcelona and Paris, but didn't get very far! More to come! In the meantime, here is Jeromy in Madrid in 2019. Rest in Peace and Love and Light and Adventure, Anthony. And thank you for sharing your travels and your heart with us.
