We are told a story about retirement. It is a tale full of quiet days, naps, and perhaps some regret that the job is not there to provide interest to the day. Patrick and I do not know who has this retirement, but it is not our experience. This first full year has been full of friends and family, events and excitement, visiting and visitors. We are so very grateful.
We started the year with some excitement related to our remodel. The problem began back in early December when a couple neighbors came to our door on floor nine to see if we were using water. Seems down on floor six they had buckets out to catch the water with less water reaching floor five. The neighbors were firm in maintaining that it was related to our remodel. We could certainly prove it was related to our flat as when we stopped using all water for a day, all the water intrusion stopped. We started experimenting and eventually narrowed it down to the new shower. Building insurance inspector declared it our problem, so our builder came out to inspect and even cracked open the floor where the drains exit the apartment. This proved it was not our problem as all was perfect with his work. After our project manager Maria and I scoped the drain line, it was clear that a gap had developed in the sixty-five year old drain pipe. Gravity spares no one. In all this folderol, not once was aggravation or irritation expressed by any of our neighbors. The sense was clear that it was not our fault, but it needed to be fixed, so let’s work together on sorting this out. It was a good experience of the Spanish tranquilo and demonstrated how kind our neighbors are. We met many of them in the process and everyone was kind.
In the wake of our water woes, we took a trip to Marrakech, Morocco. It started out as just the two of us with Tim and Corinne. By the time we left, it was a party of ten people! We had a lovely time and it is a fascinating city. We were able to take this trip because the stamped visas in our passports were still valid, but shortly after our return, we obtained our Tarjeta Identificación Extrajeros or TIE. This is a very important card as it allows us to come and go from the Schengen Area without regard to the usual 90 in 180 day rolling window.
In the weeks to come, we found our calendar filled with Las Comidas (main meal 2-4 p.m.) or Las Cenas (evening meal 8-11 p.m.). We made time for language practice. We spent quality time with our growing group we would come to call The Gay Mafia. Edgar started us off and is very much at the center of this group. He and his partner Fernando have a warm heart for all of us and we always make time for them, even when we don’t understand a word of what is being said.
In no time, it was the last Sunday of February and time for La Crida, or The Call to Fallas. I will shortly publish an article about Fallas as it is a topic unto itself, but suffice to say here that it was an intense few weeks until it ended on 19 March. Days after, we were delighted to visit with a celebrity of the anglophone ex-pat/immigrant community, James Blick. James interviewed us for a video he did about why and how people are choosing to move from the United States to Spain. He warned us ahead that the hook was “fleeing the US” and we absolutely are not, but there you have it.
At this time, our friends Hugo, Megan, Madelief, and Easton arrived. We enjoyed the last day of Fallas and then headed up to Barcelona to explore the Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, and other Gaudí sites. Then on to Madrid to check out the fabulous boulevards, parks, and palaces. Then back to Valencia to explore the city in more detail.
Shortly after they sadly returned to the States, we were delighted to see Jeff, Traci, and Eliza. We showed them around our new home and really had a lovely time. Shortly after bidding them a fond farewell, we were delighted to have Elizabeth join us to see what a lovely place we’d picked for her to visit every year.
This brings us up to May when we took a week to join with Tim and Corinne to visit our friends Susie and Ian up in York. May was a lovely month to visit York. We also visited Durham, Lincoln, took Coronation Tea at Howard Castle, then took in Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House before heading to Manchester to explore there and head back home to Valencia. We also took a quick day trip with our new friend Leslie Ross out to Cuenca, so we are getting in some local Spanish trips even though our beloved dogs are getting older and short-term care for them is challenging.
After more calendar days full of meals and meetings, we took another trip to England in June to visit with our dear friends Judy and Steve. This was a lovely trip as we all decided that a week of kicking about in Royal Leamington Spa was preferable to a frantic dash about the country, so we had a relaxing week including a trip to White Horse Hill and Weyland’s Smithy, and a day in London.
We returned to prepare for the visit of our beloved erstwhile neighbors, Dave, Annie, Sal, and Leo. It was a delightful visit. We took a week to go to Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo. It was so fun to see these places with the eyes of a nine and five year old. We returned to Valencia and in addition to the usual sites in the city, we also visited Xátiva to see the castle, which made for a lovely day. It really was a lovely two weeks and the young people were real troopers and traveled like pros. Their visit was followed the next month by a delightful visit with Joe, Marsann, Helen, and Hazel. It was a lovely time with them and we hope to see them again.
Speaking of Xátiva (pronounced ShAh-tivah), it is a town that was important to Al Andaluz as they had a particular need for paper and it was made in Xátiva in that period. One of the reasons is the ready access to water in the Xúcar (ShOO-car) river. Patrick and I took a weekend to join our growing group of friends to rent a large house in the country and one day we went to swim in the Xúcar. It was a beautiful day and we splashed about in a cove and marveled at the huge and fast-flowing side of the river just past the cove. At some point, several of us decided to float down to the next cove. As we passed the point of land that separated the two coves, the fast flowing part of the river took a turn to become a horizontal cyclone that pulled under both me and Leslie’s husband Miguel. It was very scary and I only just managed to resurface and float on my back in the cove. Mig was saved by a man who grabbed a float and dove in to pull him out. All this story to say that we are very grateful for the joys in our life. We are grateful for our friends and family and our time with each of you. Treasure the time as tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us.
As we close out the summer with many meals and time with friends, David exchanging language practice with Vincent, Patrick exercising with Vincent, and we come to the big fall event with our two weeks returning to the United States for a driving trip up the East Coast to attend the wedding of our beloved nephew Brian to his lovely bride Katelynn. It was lovely to see everyone as we drove up from Miami. The wedding was lovely and we returned home to welcome our dear friends the Salinas family. We had a wonderful time showing them about Valencia and staying up late talking. Then my sister Sarah and her husband Dennis came to visit and this time they could stay in our flat. On their first visit, we didn’t have enough furniture or supplies yet.
As November rolled in, we welcomed Brian and Katelynn for their honeymoon trip. They stayed at Corinne’s flat and spent some quality time together, only occasionally with The Guncles. November filled up quickly with meals and meetings as we connected with our friends after the long series of travel and visitors. We ended November in proper fashion at Corinne’s place for a proper Thanksgiving.
Shortly after, we headed out for a two week trip in southern Spain. We started in Toledo, then on to Sevilla, then Mérida for their remarkable Roman ruins, then Córdoba, and finally Granada with a final twist as we spent a couple days in Alicante with Shelley and Scott. Then we returned to swing into the holiday season with high points at Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), Christmas Day, and Nochevieja (New Year’s Eve).
It has been an amazing year. We are so grateful for all the family and friends, new and old. We treasure the time we have with each of you, and we look forward to more time. We thank each of you for your gift of time and affection. Abrazos fuertes!
I wrote this back in January and neglected to finish it with photos through the article. I’m posting without emailing subscribers as it is late coming to life.