Immediately upon waking up Saturday morning, two days ago, I was so conscious that it was May 1st. Not because I've ever had a big thing about May Day, but simply because suddenly - and I do mean suddenly - this is the month that we are leaving. And to be more precise, it is only three and a half weeks away. Aaagh! Three and a half weeks to take care of the details and learn the things that I haven't yet. Three and a half weeks to obtain those things that I still need. Three and a half weeks to get my backpack out of the plastic, pack it with the weight that I intend to carry, put it on and start hiking! I've been hiking, just not with the weight...
My mother is also very conscious of this date coming closer. She is older and in need of some assistance, so on Saturday mornings, I go over to her house and help her out and we have breakfast together. I know that she is both excited for me and also has some reservations about the trip, especially about my safety. She is, after all, my mother, no matter how old we both are. Back in 1953, the summer before she met my father, my mother took off on a 10 week bicycling trip of Europe.
It was with a tour group, but she signed up for it not knowing anyone else going except one friend, and not having done much cycling other than a few miles here and there around town (read: totally unprepared physically). She survived, had a blast, and made wonderful, life-long friends. I suggested that she think of this trip as my version of her bike trip. Hopefully, I'm a little more prepared physically than she was. The picture is my mother on the second level of the Eiffel Tower in 1953.
Isn't it funny though, when we are focused on something, be it a word, a person, an idea, or a place or whatever, suddenly that name or word or whatever seems to start coming up everywhere? Is it coincidence or it that we are just more attuned to it, more conscious of it? Perhaps it is really there that often all the time and we never notice it until we have some special connection to it, a particular reason for taking note of it. Or maybe, as my spiritual director, Mary, was suggesting, it just might be God speaking to us. We never know that for sure, but we have to keep listening and discerning. Just in the last week, as I listened to the radio (NPR), Spain, though not specificially Santiago, kept coming up in a variety of ways.
First, there was Fred Child and Performance Today. (http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/?month=4&day=29&year=2010) He was featuring the women's choral a capella group, Anonymous 4. They were performing music from the 13th century from a women's convent, Las Huelgas, in north central Spain.
The convent had been started by one of the many King Alfonsos for noble women who wished to live a monastic life. This particular convent was known for it's music and in particular for the complexity of the music. It was gorgeous.
Then, on Sunday morning, driving to church, there was the discussion of the European financial situation. Of course, Greece is in the most serious shape, but Spain is not too far behind. It made me think that as tourists, we might find some good deals (!), but on the other hand, the money that we are spending over there, particularly in the smaller villages, might be very welcome and needed.
Then, on the way home from church, I was listening to The Splendid Table (http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/listings/100501/ - click on the section "calls"), a program about the appreciation of food and drink and good table fellowship. One of the callers was a bride-to-be getting married in a few months, literally to 'the guy next door.' They are both gardeners and have joined their gardens and wanted to grow the food for their reception, which, oh by the way, will have a Spanish theme (you knew it would be here somewhere). So Lynne Rosetto Kasper, the host of the show, proceeded to rattle off a whole list of wonderful sounding dishes, all Spanish in nature, straight out of the garden. I was trying to take mental notes for the dinner Laura and I will do! Something like sliced heirloom tomatoes with paper-thin slices of onion, sprinkled with lemon juice, then dressed in an olive oil warmed with roasted peppers and some fresh ground coriander seed that has been warmed until fragrant ... 'pimentone de la vera' hmmm...
So is it just coincidence, or am I more conscious of the word "Spain" popping up whenever it does, just because it is in the forefront of my mind? Is it God whispering in my ear, or nudging me with a divine elbow? I don't know. I just know that it's everywhere right now!
My mother is also very conscious of this date coming closer. She is older and in need of some assistance, so on Saturday mornings, I go over to her house and help her out and we have breakfast together. I know that she is both excited for me and also has some reservations about the trip, especially about my safety. She is, after all, my mother, no matter how old we both are. Back in 1953, the summer before she met my father, my mother took off on a 10 week bicycling trip of Europe.
It was with a tour group, but she signed up for it not knowing anyone else going except one friend, and not having done much cycling other than a few miles here and there around town (read: totally unprepared physically). She survived, had a blast, and made wonderful, life-long friends. I suggested that she think of this trip as my version of her bike trip. Hopefully, I'm a little more prepared physically than she was. The picture is my mother on the second level of the Eiffel Tower in 1953.Isn't it funny though, when we are focused on something, be it a word, a person, an idea, or a place or whatever, suddenly that name or word or whatever seems to start coming up everywhere? Is it coincidence or it that we are just more attuned to it, more conscious of it? Perhaps it is really there that often all the time and we never notice it until we have some special connection to it, a particular reason for taking note of it. Or maybe, as my spiritual director, Mary, was suggesting, it just might be God speaking to us. We never know that for sure, but we have to keep listening and discerning. Just in the last week, as I listened to the radio (NPR), Spain, though not specificially Santiago, kept coming up in a variety of ways.
First, there was Fred Child and Performance Today. (http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/?month=4&day=29&year=2010) He was featuring the women's choral a capella group, Anonymous 4. They were performing music from the 13th century from a women's convent, Las Huelgas, in north central Spain.
The convent had been started by one of the many King Alfonsos for noble women who wished to live a monastic life. This particular convent was known for it's music and in particular for the complexity of the music. It was gorgeous.Then, on Sunday morning, driving to church, there was the discussion of the European financial situation. Of course, Greece is in the most serious shape, but Spain is not too far behind. It made me think that as tourists, we might find some good deals (!), but on the other hand, the money that we are spending over there, particularly in the smaller villages, might be very welcome and needed.
Then, on the way home from church, I was listening to The Splendid Table (http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/listings/100501/ - click on the section "calls"), a program about the appreciation of food and drink and good table fellowship. One of the callers was a bride-to-be getting married in a few months, literally to 'the guy next door.' They are both gardeners and have joined their gardens and wanted to grow the food for their reception, which, oh by the way, will have a Spanish theme (you knew it would be here somewhere). So Lynne Rosetto Kasper, the host of the show, proceeded to rattle off a whole list of wonderful sounding dishes, all Spanish in nature, straight out of the garden. I was trying to take mental notes for the dinner Laura and I will do! Something like sliced heirloom tomatoes with paper-thin slices of onion, sprinkled with lemon juice, then dressed in an olive oil warmed with roasted peppers and some fresh ground coriander seed that has been warmed until fragrant ... 'pimentone de la vera' hmmm...
So is it just coincidence, or am I more conscious of the word "Spain" popping up whenever it does, just because it is in the forefront of my mind? Is it God whispering in my ear, or nudging me with a divine elbow? I don't know. I just know that it's everywhere right now!
