One of the toughest parts of living abroad at our age is that the majority of our friends have families as well. Why is this tough? Because it's hard to convince a family with young kids to spend a whole lot of money to take their kids on a 10 hour plane ride to Spain. And while we do it regularly and don't blink an eye about it, I do have to think back to the days pre-Spain. If someone asked me to take my 2 and 5 year old on a plane across the Atlantic I probably would have said they were crazy. And then would have attempted to find someone to watch said children so Josh and I could go without them...but even that would be iffy because being 10 hours away from your children in the case of an emergency would make me hesitant to not only go on the trip but to enjoy it.
So what I'm saying is that I understand why it is that we haven't had a lot of visitors here and I don't blame them and if I were in their shoes I'd probably be thinking the same thing. The visitors we've had for the most part have not included children and while we have had a few visitors who's sole intent is to visit us here, the majority of them have visited us as an add-on. They are travelling to another destination that is nearby (in relative terms) Barcelona and stop in to see us. While I'd love for more people who come to see us to come see us, beggars also can't be choosers and I'm thrilled for the chance to see our friends and family no matter how or why they are here!!!
We had one of these "add-on" visitors a little over a week ago for just a night. But it was a great night and I'm so glad they came. Having just moved the same week, things here were a bit chaotic but knowing we had visitors on the way helped to motivate us to get ourselves unpacked and to build the IKEA furniture that was looming in front of us! And I'll admit to Josh and I putting the guest bed together up til a matter of an hour before our guests' arrival (thank god they were late!).
Our friend Jeni, her fiancee Dave and her daughter Mairead all arrived on a Saturday evening ready to go. It was great having our first guests in our new home and getting to show off our new guest room - something we didn't have before!! So pass the news along Jeni so we can get more visitors!! Aidan was on a sleepover so he didn't get to see Mairead (who is a few years older than him) til the next morning, but Liam enjoyed seeing her. And because Liam tends to be our nightowl anyways, we decided to take a chance and take him to dinner so we could all go out.
Of course we went to our favorite restaurant, Specchio Magico. It was weird not seeing Yolanda and Ricardo there but the food was fantastic as always so that was a plus! We had fun catching up with Jeni and getting to know Dave a bit as I've only met him once and I think this was Josh's first time meeting him.
Eventually Liam and Mairead were starting to tire out, poor Liam fell asleep in my arms as we walked home (uphill of course - who really needs the gym when you have a 45 lb child that always wants to be carried?). But we stayed up chatting with Jeni and Dave for another hour or so after we got back.
The next day they were heading for Alicante in southern Spain. So after printing out some maps and having some yummy waffles for breakfast it was time to say goodbye again. The funny thing is, Josh ran into them at the airport in Paris, France as he was heading back to the US this weekend for meetings and they were on their way back from their trip. Small world!!!
Besos,
Julie
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