I majored in Spanish in college. I was good at languages and was awarded a Danforth fellowship to take some time in Spain living with families in Madrid and then up north in Santander—now the name of our bank!!
I felt both adventurous and scared at once. The experience of excelling at languages in a classroom is obviously very different from living that language among people who have known no other. In short, I felt a bit like Don Quixote without his companion, Sancho Panza who, like a guide dog, made sure his master didn’t get lost or wander off aimlessly.
On the plane I put together my first sentence. Donde esta el taxi?? The man behind the desk smiled, not mockingly, as he said: “We all speak English here, Ma’am.” Okay, so I wasn’t about to drown in the naiveté of my own nerves.
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My time in Spain was full of wonderment and naiveté. My family in Madrid had an unmarried daughter almost twice my age. They married young girls off in this culture, at least promised them into good families FOREVER it seemed. I noticed that the families I lived with in Spain had no evident adult men living at home. The women managed very well on their own faith, skills, MUCH prayer, and determination. I felt safe!
I actually received one marriage proposal from a teenage boy named José (Pepé) Setien Roldan. I was terrified but managed to stand boldly upright and stammer: “En las USA we do not do such things!” (half in Spanish and half in English)……… I decided right there that I had better not flirt anymore!
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Life is about not being afraid or intimidated by rules while still allowing yourself to be seen and to see the other close up and deep down. It takes courage and several faithful, trustworthy companions/friends who listen to all your dreams—whether practical or not. Such friends are also willing to share their own vulnerabilities and remind you when you have lost your way, and when you have to wake up, and when you are dreaming, and when you need to wake up. Then you might need a therapist to help you come back down to earth while never abandoning your dreams.
From Don Quixote: “All I know is that while I’m asleep, I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories — and bless the man who invented sleep, a cloak over all human thought, food that drives away hunger, water that banishes thirst, fire that heats up cold, chill that moderates passion, and, finally, universal currency with which all things can be bought, weighted and balanced that brings the shepherd and the king, the fool and the wise, to the same level.”
You know when it is time to live your dream and when you must literally sleep on it.
Claro que si. But of course.
