When I was a little girl, we had an exchange student from Spain one summer. I wanna say his name was Ivan, and my brother broke his arm that summer. Or wait. Was that Ivan who broke his arm? Poor Ivan, I think it was him.
Anyway.
One of the things Ivan brought us from Spain was one of those large coffee table books, of pictures of Spain. It captured my childish imagination. Since the book was in spanish, I understood very little of the photo captions.
One image in particular stayed in my mind, long after the book was lost or given away. It was of a hall of arches, arches that looked like brick candy canes. The light was warm and dim. And it looked endless. The floor was some sort of marble. I remember the picture, right down to the dust on the lens of the camera that took it.
And I would lose myself in daydreams of dancing there. I always knew that if I could have a castle someday, I would have a room of just arches, like that. Nothing else. And I would dance in it.
And this daydream stayed with me into adulthood. A place I could conjure at will, as I was driving or falling asleep. A "castle in spain." It was all very Blue Castle (my favorite book). By the time it occurred to me to find where this place I remembered actually was, I had no idea where the book had gone.
I always hoped that someday, I'd find it while backpacking in Spain, quite unexpectedly, on a hot afternoon.
Instead, a picture of it came up on my daily Photos of Sacred Places box on my Google homepage. Turns out my castle in Spain is actually a church in Spain.
I actually said, "That's it!" rather loudly, and looked around the lobby to see if anyone was around to share it with. (Sadly no.) And then I actually cried a bit, with joy.
So many of the things we remember from our childhood lose their magic over the years, or seem smaller than we remember. But not so with my hall of arches.
And now I know that someday, some hot afternoon, I WILL go there.
And dance.
Of all the gods that have been worshiped there over the years, I'm certain none will mind. Because a part of me has always worshiped there.
Anyway.
One of the things Ivan brought us from Spain was one of those large coffee table books, of pictures of Spain. It captured my childish imagination. Since the book was in spanish, I understood very little of the photo captions.
One image in particular stayed in my mind, long after the book was lost or given away. It was of a hall of arches, arches that looked like brick candy canes. The light was warm and dim. And it looked endless. The floor was some sort of marble. I remember the picture, right down to the dust on the lens of the camera that took it.
And I would lose myself in daydreams of dancing there. I always knew that if I could have a castle someday, I would have a room of just arches, like that. Nothing else. And I would dance in it.
And this daydream stayed with me into adulthood. A place I could conjure at will, as I was driving or falling asleep. A "castle in spain." It was all very Blue Castle (my favorite book). By the time it occurred to me to find where this place I remembered actually was, I had no idea where the book had gone.
I always hoped that someday, I'd find it while backpacking in Spain, quite unexpectedly, on a hot afternoon.
Instead, a picture of it came up on my daily Photos of Sacred Places box on my Google homepage. Turns out my castle in Spain is actually a church in Spain.
I actually said, "That's it!" rather loudly, and looked around the lobby to see if anyone was around to share it with. (Sadly no.) And then I actually cried a bit, with joy.
So many of the things we remember from our childhood lose their magic over the years, or seem smaller than we remember. But not so with my hall of arches.
And now I know that someday, some hot afternoon, I WILL go there.
And dance.
Of all the gods that have been worshiped there over the years, I'm certain none will mind. Because a part of me has always worshiped there.
2 Comments:
So many of the things we remember from our childhood lose their magic over the years, or seem smaller than we remember.
that's the first thing I thought when I first read this... so when I scrolled down to the picture part I almost clapped like an excited little girl!
*which actually I do alot in real life
That's AWESOME!
*grin* I do that a lot too.
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