Sarah la Viajera
Sarah la Viajera

Brothers are Blessings

October 23, 2013SarahAdd comment
Written by Sarah
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In my case, I would have to argue that having a brother is the best thing! One day, I’ll experience what it’s like to have a sister join my family -God willing- but for now I will continue to appreciate and enjoy the sibling relationship I’ve been blessed with: a brother and sister relationship.

And what better time to reflect on it than on my brother’s birthday? Yes, today’s his special day! He’s pretty much been the best brother I could ever ask for…and though we both know a foreign language, we actually know two: the language we sometimes speak whenever we’re together. I have to reflect a little on the past year because it has been full of adventures! It’s also the end of a mini era. You see, I like to say that one of the best years of my childhood with my brother was when we were only 4 (me) and 7 (Nathan) years old. That was the year I started remembering tiny details in my memories. I don’t remember another as a young girl being as fun or having laughed so much. And, what’s more, we weren’t just having fun being the crazy brother-sister pair that we were, we had adventures and we went places. I vividly remember playing outside at our old house and rolling down the hill, chasing each other, doing voice impressions and taking a supervised road trip out to our grandparents’ house. Our most challenging obstacle was the most ruthless ride at the Knox County fair: the Zipper. Neither of us was brave enough or tall enough to ride it, so no worries there. It was and has always been the thing we’ve yet to conquer when it comes to our grandparents’ county fair.

Nathan’s 10th (?) birthday. This was the year we, unfortunately, got lice at the same time. 🙁

Now, fast forward to last December. When I reached my 24th birthday, I caught up to him. Well, let me explain. I feel like our epic ‘4 and 7’ year was repeated again 10 years later and now 10 years after that, when we were 24 and 27. I’d argue that this has been our best year together so far. We started my 24th birthday off by going to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I desperately wanted to spend my birthday (at least once) out of the USA and Nathan had recently gotten his passport. What reasons to go? We had a fun time on our first international [road] trip together. We also enjoyed Windsor a lot the short time we were there and would love to go back again someday. Little did we both know that that was just the start of an exciting year being 24 and 27, twenty years after the epic ‘4 and 7′ period. The two of us traveled again this time returning to our grandparents’ very snowy, sleepy town in Northeast Nebraska for Christmas. We haven’t seen snow there in over 15 years. It didn’t matter though because we got to be kids again when we played in it! And….we rolled down the big hill with our cousins in the snow! If you ever get the chance to do that, it will be the most refreshing activity you’ll ever do! haha But, WARNING: rolling down the hill when you’re 4 and when you’re 24 are two completely different experiences. I remembered it being less of a gravity-altering experience when I was 4. Maybe your equilibrium changes as you get older? I’m not sure. All I know is that after rolling down the hill for the third time, I was so dizzy I felt drunk! (And for the record, I have never been drunk but I’m sure that was fairly close.) But….I have never laughed so much and so hysterically in my life! At that moment in time, there was no other place I’d rather be than lying in the snow with my brother and cousin nearby, laughing our heads off! 😉

But…the year gets better! Through careful planning and saving on both of our parts, we were able to take another international trip together. This time we’d have to hop this thing called the Pond (at different times) and….meet up with each other somewhere in the wonderfully large and lively city that is Madrid, Spain! 🙂 Nathan signed up for a three-week Ambassador study abroad program with faculty and students from WSU in Spain for the month of May. I work remotely and do freelance work so I’m not tied to a physical office here in Jacksonville. He had the timeline for when he’d be going and I had the flexibility to travel and still work at the same time. Side note, though, I was already thinking that this would be the year I would travel back to Spain and Sevilla (where I studied abroad). I just wasn’t completely sure which season or which month I would go. But…it all worked out in the end and we met up one morning very early at Nathan’s hotel near the Atocha train station. The fact that my own brother, who was sitting in the lobby the entire time, didn’t even recognize his own sister -after we hadn’t seen each other for 4 months- is crazy but true! There’s also not enough time to tell it here. It makes for a really good ‘first time we’re in Spain’ story, though! 🙂 Due to some hiccups in my travel plans, I got to spend more time in Madrid than I thought….and I got to show Nathan a few of my favorite places there while doing our best to speak a good amount of Spanish together!

Nathan and  I in sunny Madrid, España and in front of the Alfonso XII monument in Retiro.
If you have heard even just one story of my study abroad semester (which wasn’t that long in reality), you may have heard me also mention how I can’t quite describe in words how much that semester and that country meant to me. The same is true for when I returned to Spain. And when I saw my brother and when he came down to Sevilla for more fun after his program ended. I have been to a number of places by myself but to be in a place where I’ve not only been before but with a family member? It was the best feeling in the world. It’s been almost 6 months since our time there but it feels like it all just played out last week. It was the rich, vibrant icing on the wonderfully crafted cake that was this past year. I know we have many more international and domestic trips to look forward to (note, we haven’t planned anything else at the moment!!) but this was a fantastic start to our trips overseas. I hope they can continue and that we can explore many more countries together throughout our lives. And, you all know that I’m not quite done with Spain and will be back. There are also many, many more Spanish-speaking countries that we’ve both only read about and have yet to discover so rest assured, we won’t be leaving too many -if any-countries off our list.
Después de tapas en la mejor bar de tapas en Triana (Sevilla): Las Golondrinas!

But, as amazing and wonderful (and short) as our time together was in Spain, the fun didn’t end there! We would see each other for the third -out of four times- this year during this month! Our cousin in Iowa was getting married and we had plans to be there for the festivities! I flew up to Ohio and then drove out to Iowa and Nebraska with my parents and Nathan. We all haven’t made one of those road trips out that way in about three years. And, if memory serves correctly, we haven’t made this trip in the fall let alone in October. What’s important about the month of October is my parents’ anniversary (29 years!!!) and my brother’s birthday. What’s shocking is that I haven’t been home in the month of October (for either occasion) since 2006, my senior year of HS! This also means that the last time I saw my brother during his birthday month was when he turned 21! Yes, it is crazy, I know, haha. I’m glad that I was able to reset the clock so to speak on that counter and that I was able to attend the wedding in Iowa as well as have a short visit at home too. And…the last big thing about that week and weekend was this: the last time we were at a Willats family wedding was when I was 3 and he was 6! We had fun during our uncle’s wedding (because we were in it, haha) but all of us only have a handful of memories from the day. I have even less. But, with her wedding, we will remember the beautiful ceremony and all of the fun times afterward at the reception! Also, it was another time in the past year where I have never laughed so much at one time! It was a great end to a great year of me being 24 and Nathan being 27.

He’s been a part of my life for almost 25 years and I couldn’t imagine having grown up with a better brother. From all of our crazy made-up words to our play fights (we didn’t fight that much as kids so we had to pretend to fight sometimes) to all of our real fights to all of the laughs, tears, moves and changes in our lives, we’ve been right by each other’s sides. A friend of mine told me a few years ago how much family meant to him. He said that if you can’t love your own brother, how can you love your friend or a stranger? You honestly can’t love others if you don’t first love yourself and your family. (For me, God falls into this category too.) My brother may get on my nerves sometimes (and vice versa 😉 but I will always love him. I am reminded of how fortunate I am to even have a brother almost every day. I also know that not everyone has a sibling, at least one that they get along with and/or are on speaking terms with them. I haven’t found anyone in this world -so far- who not only gets my sense of humor and knows me better than I know myself but shares my love for other cultures and languages. You’d think that after 20+ of knowing each other, we’d run out of things to talk about….but it’s just the opposite! We’re both always growing, changing and maturing into the people God has called us to be. Some years might be more challenging than others, but we’re always there to encourage each other and remind one another not to take life *so* seriously at times. (Self nudge? haha)

This post has gotten quite long so I will wrap things up here. It’s been an awesome ride with you so far, Nathan, and I can’t wait to see what this year and the next 20+ years bring. Near or far, we’re always on the same sheet of music! And, I hope we don’t ever become a boring brother-sister pair and that we’ll always be able to have as much wild and crazy fun as we did below! Happy, happy birthday to you, mi querido hermano! I raise my cider bottle to you and wish you a fantastic 28th year! 😀
P.S. I’m not a copycat anymore! I’m learning Portuguese now and not Arabic (like you). It only took me 20 years not to copy you! hahaha

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When I read my very first blog post about the infamous pintxo de champiñón (champi for short) and gamba, I just knew that one day I had to try it. Fast forward 11 years and I did! And now I’m posting about it 2 months later, oops. 😅 Visiting Logroño, located just underneath País Vasco, back in March was a very pleasant surprise. The walkability, large concentration of bars in the city center and the fact that eating was the main focus of our weekend were wonderful. When I was dreaming about trying these absolutely delicious #pintxos all those years ago, I never imagined I would go to Logroño with the person I absolutely love trying new dishes and cuisines with. I never knew how fun going away to such a gastronomic gem of a region like La Rioja 🍷 would be and how eating my way around the town (plus, a little bit of culture and football ⚽️ for him) would be such an adventure. We didn’t make it everywhere we wanted to go so we’ve got yet another list of pintxos to try the next time we visit. 👫💕 Pintxos featured: 1️⃣ Champiñón 🍄 a la plancha con gamba 🍤 - Bar Soriano 2️⃣ Unas patatas bravas increíbles! 🤩 - Bar Jubera 3️⃣ El cojonudo (huevo de cordoniz con chorizo sobre pan) - Bar El Muro Restaurante 4️⃣ Un excelente pintxo de tortilla 🍳🥔“melosa” -La Concordia (Tortillera) 5️⃣ Croquetas de puerro y gamba (yo) y de cachopo (A) -Divina Croqueta 6️⃣ Otro pintxo de gamba y champi - Bar Ángel (mi favorito 😍) 7️⃣ Bocatita de jamón con queso de tetilla 🧀 (a nod to our beloved Galicia) 🤤 - Pata Negra 8️⃣ Tío Agus (un mini bocadillo de carne de cedro adobado con salsa secreta) - Tío Agus Bar Lorenzo 9️⃣ Tarta de queso vasca 😋 - Café Calenda (Calle Portales) 🔟 Brocheta de langostinos a la plancha con aceite de oliva y pimentón de la Vera - La Casita Mesón Bar Side note: it’s really hard to film one handed and try to eat at the same time (see slide #4). Have you been to Logroño before? What were some of your favorite foods/pintxos? 😋🥘🐷🥖⬇️ #callaurel #callelaurellogroño #logroño #pinchos #tapeando #lariojapetece #foodies #larioja
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