On the Road with Julie

We’re in Morocco!

Ryan got here yesterday mid-morning, and as I made my way from Granada to Málaga, throughout the day, I enjoyed pictures and phone calls of his adventures as he was savoring his day of solo discovery in the beautiful and ancient streets of Marrakech.

I arrived close to midnight at our lovely Riad. It was so fun to get a chance to dip back into my French and to feel the utility of it as I was able to break through what would otherwise have been significant barriers. What a thrill.

In my shuttle ride from the airport to the Riad, as I let the beautiful sights wash over me, I was absolutely delighting in the kinetic sounds of Arabic coming out my driver’s mouth to the fellow he was talking to. This being a language that I don’t speak a single word of, I just delighted in the beautiful rhythms and sounds of it flowing like a river of liquid music through the air. I had to keep reminding myself that I don’t have to immediately start studying Arabic. That is how intense my hunger for language learning is – if I am in a country with a language I don’t speak, I typically feel compelled to immediately start pursuing it. But, luckily, my language coffers are feeling pretty full these days, so I found myself able to truly relax into enjoying the language as a passive observer. I surrendered to being the outsider without any sense of how to decode this river of sound and I just delighted in the experience of being there as the beautiful sounds filled the air.

I don’t know if I have the words to describe the greeting I received when I arrived at the Riad. And, I’m not talking about from Ryan! You can imagine, we were both pretty excited to be reunited, but we tried to play it cool, being in public and wanting to be respectful before we grabbed each other with the excitement and joy of a heartfelt embrace after weeks apart. No, the effusive greeting I received came from elsewhere.

As I entered the Riad, I spoke with the young man who had escorted me to its entrance from the main road and the proprietor of the establishment. I don’t know what it was, but the proprietor, a jovial and kind woman named Fatiha, at some point, was just overcome by such a joy and love, she grabbed me and hugged me in the biggest bear hug I have ever received! I am a fan of love wherever it comes from and it may have been one of the most pure and sincere expressions of love and joy I have ever felt. I don’t know what it is I said or did, but something about me, in that moment, seemed to just overwhelm her and she couldn’t contain herself. All of a sudden, she just grabbed me and wrapped me up in the biggest embrace. And the feeling was mutual as I reciprocated the gesture. Ryan was laughing with glee and had to grab a picture. The only picture that made the cut is this one, when the moment was just starting to wind down from its climatic swirl of mutual appreciation. Take the amount of glow and glee on this wonderful woman’s face and multiply it by a thousand and that’s how much she had been glowing just moments before.

What a way to be welcomed to a new land. For us, it is a new city, a new country and a new continent. And thanks to the beauty of the place and the warmth of our hosts, it hasn’t taken us long to feel right at home.

And, tomorrow, we head off for our adventures into the desert!

I don’t know much about the origins of Valentine’s Day and I’ve never been overly concerned with it as a holiday. I know, if you only look at the greetings card section in a Walgreen’s, you might think it is just about romantic love. I’m all for romantic love and I am grateful to have so much of it in my life. But, love is bigger than just the kind shared between two partners in life. And, boy did I get the biggest, most wonderful dose of it here!

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine’s Day from Morocco and hoping you are encountering love in any one of it’s many forms!