I walked four miles today. That seems to be the average, if I’m not cycling to save time (certainly not for any velocity or muscle improvement, always having to weave through crowds on sidewalks or stop at a crosswalk to let pedestrians pass). More importantly, my girls walked over two miles, mostly between ten and eleven at night, from the crowded downtown area where we stopped to take pictures of the city hall and the giant flag of Spain, where we tried sardines and anchovies and lamb chops, where we celebrated our new-found freedom of me having gainful employment, where I carried my grandmother’s spirit at the back of every thought.

Classic poses to match the classic architecture.

My girls’ faces in the picture? Classic. More classic to me than the Roman architecture so proudly lit up behind us. The center of downtown feels like the true Europe to me. Reminds me of Italy, where I visited when I was fourteen, so anxious to see my grandmother’s homeland. I wish I had been able to go with her on one of her trips to visit her relatives. I think about these things now as I stop to take a picture of the Virgin Mary on my walk through downtown early this morning, as I look at all the families doting on their children here, so openly affectionate. I feel embraced by the warmth of the culture here, so at home with who I am as I walk down these streets.

I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is that led me to this point in my life. The easiest culprit would be the Spaniards who stayed with us for a year in our home, their exuberance for life so contagious that none of my friends could get enough of them, that their absence left a hollow mark in the shadows of our house.

But it’s so much deeper than that. What leads one to follow impossible dreams, to sacrifice almost everything in order to fulfill them? I think about these things as I take snapshots of this enchanted place, as my girls jump in joy at coming across a playground with a bouncy seesaw well into the night, as they see friends walking down the street when all Americans would be in bed by this hour. I think about my experiences as a child, my journeys to Europe, my grandmother, the Spanish exchange student who lived with us for a summer… everything comes together in my mind as I take a little walk, as I become a part of a new Old World.