MADRID, Spain – I am looking to an illuminated blue horizon as if the edge of the world were rimmed in neon. Three church cupolas form a panorama to impress believers and non-believers alike. Down below, there is the sound of the occasional group of passing revelers or a lonely accordion going from café to café, but up here – at cupola level — it is quiet.
The people in this apartment sleep while I write. I run naked in the night, chasing the words that will mean what I have to say, and it is fair to say, I take a bruising. The words cackle at me from a safe distance knowing that tonight I will not catch them. But the people in the rooms around me sleep peacefully, oblivious to the battle raging in the kitchen.
Tonight, it is good to be alone. I am at peace on this last night in Madrid, if a little sad to be leaving. Usually, I am hungry for the next destination, but the time here has been uncommon and I will miss my new friends and what we shared in many nights of making music together.
We played impromptu in bars like the legendary “La Recoba,” at parties, in friends’ apartments and in theaters like Casa de America or Sala Clamores. I am extremely grateful to the amazing Argentine musicians who welcomed me into their community and made the experience so memorable.
Here in Madrid I realized that dreams really do come true if you lust enough for them and are ready to give up everything else to make them come true. I saw that the world of our dreams is always within reach, but that we must take that last, terrible step to bring them to life.
It is as if we are standing on the shore of a great river that we cannot see. It is right beside us, but by some magic or trick, it is hidden from our sight. Instead, we sense its presence and we feel it calling to the river inside us that wants to flow.
The two rivers are pulling towards each other, but they are separated by our fear. What will happen if I surrender to this calling? Will I be swept away? What will I give up? How much will I lose?
The questions, like the fears, are a mirage. The only “right” answer when the river is calling to you is to leap into those saving waters and let them take you to that place you are meant to go.
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