europe

I have now lived in Mexico for a little over 9 years and, honestly, I am running out of new things to post. There are only so many times I can post about Christmas, Easter, Mexican culture, daily village life, etc., etc., so I will be starting to write about other aspects of life in general. And given that I can be long-winded, I will probably break this up into two or three posts

I’ll begin with expanding your horizons through chance meetings with strangers. Many years ago, on one of my flights, I met a Danish-American woman and we had a very nice conversation. She told me about the Danish American Society and how the town of Rebild, Denmark holds the only authentic American Independence Day celebration outside of the United States. I was intrigued by this and vowed one day to attend.

Fast forward to 2018, and I would be going on a trip with my granddaughter Brenna. I asked her parents’ permission to include the 4th of July on our trip. Permission granted. And so we spent that 4th of July in Denmark, with celebrations over several days, ending with a fancy dinner and fireworks over the water in Aalborg (I believe). We met many wonderful people and tried the Danish cuisine – except for hot dogs and hamburgers on the 4th.

We also learned a lot about the history of Denmark in general and Rebild in particular.

The people we met were surprised that we have not a drop of Danish blood, and they wondered how we had come to be there. I explained to them how I had met a Danish woman on one of my trips and that is how we learned about the festival and decided to come,

For my second meeting-with-strangers story, last month I went to visit my son in the U.S. While waiting at the gate to board, I sat next to a woman who needed to charge her phone. I offered the use of my portable charger, and we began talking. As it turned out, she was the author Norma Alicia Gallegos.

Throughout her life, she had become progressively deaf and wrote a book about it – “Voces en el Silencio, Pensamientos de Amor” (Voices in the Silence, Thoughts about Love). It is also available in English – I’m not sure if it is available in other countries in other languages.

She has also co-written with two other women a book titled “Resilientes” (Resilient). The three women tell their histories each one dealing with her individual challenges. I would recommend this book to anyone facing serious challenges.

I would recommend Voices in the Silence to anyone who is experiencing, or knows someone who is experiencing, various degrees of hearing loss. And while I am promoting books, I would also recommend a book I am currently reading – “A Heart that Works” by Rob Delaney. He tells in great and honest detail the story of their lives after his one-year-old son Henry was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I would recommend this book for anyone working in hospice or any person who is dealing with a serious illness of a child. I learned about this book when I was listening to interview he gave online.

So I think I will end this post here, as I don’t want it to be overly long and become boring. More in the next post about expanding your horizons. Take care.