🌠 You Never Know When the Stars Are Going to Align🌠
Or are they aligning all the time... and we just don't realize it?🤯
Buenos Dias,
If you’re a regular reader, you know how much I love time travel. So, today, I’m taking you back a year.📆
This time last year, I was headed to Zamora, Spain, to experience and write about Holy Week or Semana Santa.
The cool part about my flight to Spain was that I’d be flying with my friends from Spain, Rocio and Rodrigo. In a crazy worlds-colliding way, their US trip would end just as my Spain trip was beginning, meaning we could fly to Madrid together.
Their trip had been planned months before my Zamora trip was even a thing - they were coming to visit my husband and me and attend a Bucks game.
Sidenote: If you’ve ever wondered, “Who is the #1 Bucks fan in all of Spain?”
Answer: His name is Rodrigo, and he lives in Madrid.🏀
Because they were coming all that way to see the Bucks, my husband and I were hoping to make that game special.
As luck would have it, a few weeks before Rodrigo and Rocio’s visit, my sister Patty was at a meeting and happened to be seated next to an executive from the Bucks. After my sister shared the story of the Superfan from Spain, the wheels were put into motion, and a couple of amazing individuals at the Bucks put together a fan experience Rodrigo would never forget.
It seemed there was a force greater than us, aligning the stars to make Rodrigo and Rocio’s experience amazing. 🌠
That same principle of alignment made my trip to Zamora coincide with my friends' flights home to Madrid. This proved helpful when we landed in Madrid three hours late, which was stressful as I had a train to catch.
Luckily, Rodrigo and Rocio were there to drive me to the train station. 🚄
Despite Rodrigo’s Formula 1 performance🏎️, I didn’t make my original train. But I got there in time to snag the last ticket on the day's last train.
It all worked out.
That’s what I call the stars aligning.
In fact, every part of that trip to Zamora was about stars aligning. It began when I met my friend Isabel in 2017 and heard about Zamora for the first time. Little did I know she’d be my Super Hostess in 2023. Each step along the way was instrumental. (Read the complete back story here.)
And wouldn’t you know it… stars aligning 🌟happens to be What I’d Rather Be Talking About this week:
All of the events above can be summed up with “the stars definitely aligned for that to happen.”
And that’s entirely true.
So many times in life, things happen - almost miraculously - and we say, “Well, the stars sure aligned for me there…”
But what about the times things don’t work out the way we planned?
Did you ever consider, that maybe…
the stars are aligning then too?
BAM.
I’m pretty sure nothing’s a coincidence, friends.
Ponder that for a bit.
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🎙️Stars usually align when we have great connections with others. This episode of Her Money will help you Get What You Want through the conversations you have.
📺 or🎙️- I’ll be a guest on the El Camino People podcast this week. Tune in LIVE to learn what Holy Week in Spain is all about, why you don’t need to be religious to appreciate it, and why Semana Santa is an experience you may want to have. 📺 Watch it on Facebook or YouTube at 3:00 pm CST or 21:00 in Spain - Friday, March 29.📺
🪅Festivals everywhere! If my mention of Semana Santa got you thinking, “Gee, I should try to hit a festival somewhere this year,” see this list of 27 Popular Spanish Festivals, or check out these European Music Festivals. And we can’t forget these US Festivals in 2024.
On this episode of the Today Show, recipe developer, food stylist, and cookbook author Jess Damuck shows us how to make a healthy creamsicle smoothie and shares some sneaky ways to trick your kids (or spouse) into eating vegetables. I’m also checking out her cookbook, Salad Freak.
*Bonus: Listen to Jess on this episode of So Into That with Caro Chambers.
Pack your bags - our friends at Google put together a list of the Buzziest Travel Destinations of Summer 2024. But if you’d rather get your info from a bunch of nerds, see the 2024 Travel Report from Nerd Wallet.
And that’s a wrap! I’m signing off with some memories of my fabulous week in Zamora, which included a visit with the Mayor and visits to the lovely surrounding villages. If you’re looking for wonderful people, art, tradition, great food, and wine, consider Zamora!
An idea: Head to Zamora in 2025 for Semana Santa—you won’t regret it!
Sidenote: If you’re wondering about the significance of the pointed hats (center pic), they’re called capirotes and have a penitential connotation in the Holy Week processions. They cover the face as one’s face would be covered in confession and are pointed towards heaven to signify a conversation with God.
In the meantime… watch for the moments waiting for you outside your door.
Here’s to the stars aligning.
❤️&🌠,
Abbey