leaving the party

(my last night in Spain my friends asked me to carve my name in a tree in their neighborhood...)

I have been at home for a week now. It has been soooo good to be at home and rest and be with my family. ALthough this time is kind of weird. I miss my daily life in Granada and my friends. But I am thankful for how well we've been able to keep in touch. I think about them a lot.

Memphis heat is different than Granada heat. It is humid, so I've had to run reeealllly early here. But it is nice, i get to watch the sun rise over a lake that I run around :) I still run with the watch I used in Spain to run and I haven't changed the hour yet, so at 7:30am here it is 2:30pm there. My watch says 2:30 as I finish my runs. I think about them all getting ready to sit down and eat a big lunch and for me, the sun is still rising.

I wonder what my friends would think of my life here... I wonder what they would think of huge parking lots, and huge churches and huge houses? I wonder how they'd re-act? I wonder what they would think of driving everywhere. I wonder... I miss them, I wish they were here with me... especially to meet all my friends here. My dad said if they came, he would treat them like they were his own children, because they loved me so well while I was in Spain.

I have never met a group of people or a culture that LOVES the party as much as these people, especially my Spanish friends. But their values in life shines through their love for the party.... Being together and enjoying life. I feel like I just left a great, huge, fun, wild, colorful, big, long party... where I was loved well.

My last night in Spain one of my friends said, "Molly I hope you know that you have left a foot print on our lives." For that I am thankful. They have certainly left one on mine. Also a beautiful kind of full circle moment for me was when I read a note that my friends had written to me before I left. A year ago, one of my closest friends there told me she didn't believe in God or that we have souls... SO I found it profound that in her letter to me it said, "Thank you for being who you are and for giving so much joy to our lives. You are unique. We will always be with you. You are the soul of the party... you are our favorite girl."