In Other Lives, Many Years Ago...
I finished 'working' with my clients today just before 4pm... Anadi asked me to look over a PDF he had written about his 'Athlete Management System', and I suggested we did it over 'cafe con leche' and some tapas... A late lunch/afternoon coffee break... We wandered though the village, in shimmering heat... I have forgotten what it's like to feel cold, which I am more than happy with...
We ate tapas, enjoying cold water straight from the mountain and sipped delicious coffee...
The time came to pay and I thought Leandros our waiter had asked for thirteen euros 50 (around £9...) Which seemed more than reasonable...
But no... It was 3 euros 50!
Our light lunch a deux cost us just over £2...
We have been here for three weeks and neither of us are quite used to this low cost of living yet...
As you can imagine we have mainly eaten out, in the two tavernas, both a few minutes walk up the road....
The only 'cooking' that has happened is to boil eggs for breakfast!
Tim (who was on a development retreat with us here) Anadi and I were exploring food and cooking and eating over a delicious Spanish spread one day, agreeing about the joy that preparing and sharing meals together brings us on the human journey...
At one point Anadi said, 'tell Tim how many times you have cooked since we have been together'
'Once...' I laughed... 'Anadi is a great cook and likes doing it...'
'Yes' Anadi laughed too, 'when it was Julia's turn to cook while we were living in the UK, she would say "which restaurant would you like to go to"...'
I used to cook a lot once... In other lives many years ago.
Everything can change... The stories we live out, the stories we tell about ourselves, or that others tell... They can all change.
There are not many now who would tell the story of me as a cook of delicious meals...
Or someone who irons clothes!
Or someone who rides horses, who draws and paints murals, who drives too fast...!
But they were all true of me once...
What are the stories we tell about ourselves? Or that others tell... How attached are we too them? How much are we defined by them...? Do they fit us now, would we like to change?
I was at the wedding a few years ago of my great friends Nick and Steph... I was chatting with another guest after their marriage ceremony, and before we all sat down for the delicious wedding feast...
The conversation was far reaching and eventually came to my own status... A few marriages... Would I do it again?
Lots of laughter and lighthearted banter on the subject of me and marriage...
'Well', I said 'I would like a husband who loves to cook...'!
