Final Thoughts

20 April 2015

We have been back almost two weeks and it has taken all this time to write the blog. I started it in Spain and wrote several good entries on the train to Seville. But I did not "save" them and three hours work was gone when I closed my iPad. So I kept notes and decided to complete the project on my return.

The trip was about being together with Dan for fourteen days. Even if everything had gone completely haywire, we'd still have that... And it didn't. We had moments of stress and boredom but, all-in-all, it was a very successful experience.

I am reminded that people the world over live small lives punctuated by big events and experiences. From the taxi driver to the train conductor and the hotelier, we all live lives defined by work, family and the occasional adventure. The Spanish are perhaps more comfortable with this as, according to our guide, Jaime, in Seville, his people are conservative and travel the world infrequently. But I like the adventure and the surprises travel can bring. I like the discovery process, allowing the day to unfold as interests and needs dictate. This is much harder to do in my own life because the demands of daily living always beckon. But they are deliciously suspended when I travels.

I am also reminded of the innate goodness of human beings. Spaniards are friendly, helpful, kind and appreciated our efforts to speak Spanish even in our halted, rehearsed fashion.

A personal experience reinforced the notion that world history is flexible. It seems that I was taught history is static and fixed. While the facts may be fixed,  they are open to interpretation.  Even though my work is about a person's history, and I recognize that one's memory is a fluid experience, I had not understood as clearly that a nation's history can be also.

Both Antonio, in Granada, and Jaime, in Sevilla, had a different interpretation of the Franco years. Antonio noted that he did some good things for Spain (the outdoor theater in Granada, for example) and Jaime noted that his generation is the last to be directly influenced by Franco's regime and may lead to less conservatism in the country. I would add that alluding to Franco at all was unique, as the Spanish avoid remembering the effect of his thirty-six year regime.

 I enjoy the anonymity of being a traveler. It is a remarkably "in the moment" experience where history and future are immaterial. I am different but that is expected. How I define myself at home is irrelevant here because I am not at home. I am invisible and totally present. Fundamental decisions of eating, sleeping, and exploring are the primary focus of the day. This is liberating and exhilarating.

I trust this is not the last time I leave myself behind for a time, but if it is, it has been a romantic and delightful experience with the love of my life.