I scooted all over the city on one of these today and felt absolutely wonderful. It went to a maximum of 22.5 km / hour, which was ample. Most especially without a helmet, and in a dress.

After the ugliness of yesterday, I feel it’s only appropriate to focus on goodness, so here are three of many examples of wonderful humans –

Jésus, who helped me find my glasses because my heart was too blind to see, and who made me fresh orange juice with a squeeze of lemon to calm my heart. He did both yesterday without any knowledge of what I had awoken to. His softness, in the face of so much ugliness, it was not a coincidence.

Pepi, the lovely grocery shop owner around the corner from my apartment. A slightly older woman, who has placed a bench inside of her grocery store, across from her cash register, so that her girlfriends – like Maria – may sit with her while she works. I was short some change on my first night here and she absolutely refused to take a larger bill. When I was looking for thread, she told me about the mercaria (haberdashery, y’all!), but first offered to bring in her own thread for me. We communicate poorly, with a lot of Arabic, French, Spanish hand gestures and Google translate. There’s nothing I won’t do to speak with her, including interpretative dance, this is how lovely she is.

Vincenzo, the only server at Paris-Plage, who now yells hello every time I walk in, and who quietly sends my way his impressions of everyone who won’t take him up on dining / drinking at Paris-Plage. Familiarity is good and welcome.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. Discovering these cookies which I bought because  I thought they were ma3mool. They are not. But they are magic. They are shortbread infused with anise and layered in far too much icing sugar.

2. Isabelle, once more from Paris-Plage who today left the kitchen and all cooking to sit and share with me yesterday’s news. She saw the WhatsApp message and photo, and consequently taught me what is French for worse than a Conard.
3. Sisterhood. See #2 above. It takes but a split second to cultivate, alhamduliLah ❤

Málaga | March 22, 2019

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