Prior to the vast changes in my life that occurred after I started working with Jerry back in 2014, the happiest time of my life was the five or so months I spent in Spain, mostly in Madrid, back in college. When I left, I made myself a promise: I would return after graduation.
That I let my fear talk me out of keeping that promise was the greatest mistake of my life.
When I arrived in Madrid on Sunday, I got off the train and said to myself, “I’m in Madrid.” A smile spread across my face like light spreads across the horizon at dawn.
It took almost twenty-four years, but I’m back in Madrid.
I find a city where much has changed, and much has remained the same, and as I walked the city that first afternoon (first over by the Prado, and then to the Reina Sofía, and then through the Parque del Buen Retiro), I also found–within my heart–the first tentative golden glow of a dawning self-forgiveness.