At Karina and Ivica's wedding, we had the joy of reconnecting with Cindy—Karina's hilarious and vivacious Aunt. I have many happy childhood memories involving Aunt Cindy, my favorites being playing "red-light green-light" in the hallway of her apartment building, and making a delicious assortment of deep-fried cheese empanadas in her kitchen!
During the evening's entertainment (which was open-mic style, in the tradition of Karina's family's countless barn parties) Cindy recited poetry that truly spoke to me: an excerpt of Antonio Machado's poem XXIX. Though it was meant for Karina and Ivica, it rang true for Tyler and me as well.
Traveller, your footprints
Are the path and nothing more;
Traveller, there is no path,
The path is made by walking.
By walking the path is made
And when you look back
You'll see a road
Never to be trodden again.
Traveller, there is no path,
Antonio Machado, translated by Asa Cusack
Only trails across the sea…
As it turns out, Cindy is a regular reader of our website! She knows all about our trip, and even teared up while talking to us about her favorite day of ours, when we met an elderly woman knitting with her cows in Romania. She even read my cookbook like a novel the moment it arrived! We were completely unaware of any of this!
She promised she'd be better about letting us know she's out there following along (*ahem ahem*), and that made me happy. Because OF COURSE I want to know that when I have a crappy day, Aunt Cindy is out there rooting for me! Lurkers, take this as an invitation to de-lurk yourselves! In the style of our Reaching Out post, let us know you're out there!