we'll aim for the stars when the night comes

So I was going to tell you that I may have concluded that I shockingly find that I like Madrid better than Barcelona. I was going to tell you a lot of things. It's going to take me a strong month at the least to work through all that I might like to tell you. But then came today, and it is as though I have to remember to breathe.

First of all, it's ridiculous to say that Madrid is better than Barcelona. Secondly, even though it's equally ridiculous to say that Barcelona is better than Madrid, Barcelona has just been stamped in my heart forever. It did so just by being an innocent bystander, really, because I got some big news today. Some news I have not been thinking about much for the last 15+ days, but that is big, big, big nonetheless.

The sculptor responsible for the Passion facade on La Sagrada Familia was a controversial figure, because he was an unabashed atheist when he was commissioned to begin his work. Upon completing the Passion facade, and becoming intimately involved in La Sagrada Familia, he acknowledged he had become a sincere agnostic.

And you know what? I never much gave credence to luck or good fortune or blessings. I always thought there was hard work, and there were the advantages you were born with, the haves and have-nots, and the rest was just what you told yourself to get you through life. But now I have to admit, I must acknowledge that I have been in a state of awe. I remain in a state of awe. That life could unfold this way for me, that I could see such beautiful things in this world, that I could have such beautiful choices to make. It is just too much, too too much to simply shrug it off and say, "I did all the work." No one deserves such beauty. It is a gift.