The Snapshots we don't take and the impressions they leave - March 2025 in Barcelona

Barcelona Snap-Nots and reflections - March 2025

I wish I had snapped the following photos this morning to garnish my reflections on the journey. The one of life, and the one of spirit.

The homeless man carrying his big blanket disorganised over one shoulder holding it with his arm diagonally over the front body, while the other arm ended in a hand grabbing hold on his pants so they would not drop while walking. The smell unbearable, would not have been in the photo.

The other homeless man in contrast organised and cleanish with his shopping-trolley, the style of a grandmother.

The kindergarten teacher walking backwards with all the children holding on to a red rope, neatly, nicely, disciplined walking small kids - she was walking backwards to look at them and sing the most beautiful song with the most amazing voice. The song would not have been in the photo, but it will remain in my heart.

The teenagers with their foil wrapped sandwiches, hanging out in the park across the street from La Sagrada Familia, chatting and enjoying the masterpiece of human devotion to that which is bigger.

The beautiful and focused man of color with his son on his shoulders, asymmetrically aligned with one leg dangling down the front of his dads body, the dad casually holding on, with love and confidence. It seemed they commute like that all the time, the kid being maybe five. Cool. The coolness would have been in the photo.

The angels of La Sagrada Famila, especially the one with a bulls head. Within the next 3 weeks, I will know why. Right now it is just a fascinating mystery.

The vibe of Barcelona is getting to us. We have been here for less than 24 hours. The word family transplant has been lingering in my head. A wild ride of packing down a big house in Southern France, in the countryside where the big deal was when they shut off all the light at 11pm and the stars shone bright, to move on to a BigCity life in a vibrant place like Catalonia. Both have its advantages, and we love the change, the options, the many different things we get to do.

I did take pictures when we met the Final Carnaval Parade when we dipped out to buy dogfood on the first evening, last night. The burning of the Sardine, and in this case also a figure of a dead man in a coffin. The crying widow, the dancing girls and the whole parade of people dressed as priests and nuns, the noise, the music, the joy. What a welcome! Speeches in Catalan, a language we can only grasp about 10% of on a good day, unless someone is deliberately trying to make us understand (that always helps), music, joy, funk, cooking in the street of sardines and toasted bread, people of all ages like we love it in Spain.

If I had taken the pictures on the first day, I could have garnished these reflections with with the perfect snapshots. Now … you will have to imagine it all, and enjoy the other pictures I did take.

We have rented a beautiful apartment from a man passionate about cooking and about music. It is perfect. For our needs it is also huge. It is in the city center, we are staying for just a bit more than three weeks to catch up with friends, spend time with colleagues, enjoy the city and deepdive in art and culture as always. I felt it when I took out all the cash and payed the guy. The price is fair, but this is not rural france off season. This is one of the most popular cities in Europe and the price reflects that.

On my first morning run, almost halfway through the eight weeks of couch to 5k challenge, the two homeless men contrasted my reality. I might be technically homeless, but I am not in trouble. And sometimes I even splurge on staying in the coolest places for a while. There was something deeply moving about the way the guy lost his hands to the two basic things of keeping the last bits of dignity (not allowing for the pants to simply fall off his body) and his only item to stay warm and a bit comfortable at night. It moves my heart to pass a guy like this (three times), someone who fell through the cracks, and I was wondering why he and I both gravitated to the same area. Technically homeless, why do you then live in the streets 300 meters from one of the most epic and strange construction sites on the planet: The Sagrada Familia. I wonder?

And I was running there, thinking about how to free energy and potential from the basics of keeping my dignity and staying warm and comfortable at night, how we can all lose ourselves to the fears of being vulnerable. Yet we somehow all are, and what exactly is the hack? How do we stay balanced?

For the past year I have been working on writing a book on the subject, and I think I am now realising, it might be 3 books. We will see, my co-writer and I are working on it. On and on I run, with my heavy legs, knowing it has become a longer way from that sofa to the 5K as the years have added up. I will be fifty soon, I will finish the book, I will arrive at conclusions.

Meanwhile the homeless man so deep in his falling walks the streets of Barcelona, holding on to his pants with one hand and his blanket with the other, and I wonder how I can reach out and help, and where - just to realise, I have to go home and create order in my own shop (this is a direct translation of a Danish saying, I dont know if it works in English, please let me know - to create order in your own shop, before messing with anything else).

Get the things done, pay attention to the details, stay humble and make sure my hands, literally and metaphorically are not tied up to basic chores that demand full attention all of the time. To free my hands is to win my freedom. 

The kindergarden teacher and her beautiful voice was making a difference. People can have all kinds of reasons to send their children off to kindergarten, I did it with most of mine. And even though I regret it, I do regret every single day I left my children to the care given by strangers, even with that, I know and respect, for some it is the reality, it is what has to be done to make things work - and this particular kindergarten teacher was making the most of it, making it beautiful. The children had to walk nicely on the sidewalk, staying safe from traffic and together, hence the rope, poetically red, holding things together, making sure they all stayed with the group and walked in step. Normally I would tend to feel sorry for the kids, feeling what a waste of a good childhood, but here the teacher changed it completely by turning the kids' attention to her song, all of their open faces enjoying the music, all of them walking and smiling.

It was simply beautiful. And a beautiful reminder of how we need to stay focused on how we can make what must be beautiful, strong, authentic, present, alive.

The Sagrada Familia, being the anchor of all of these impressions of the morning points to that which is bigger, and I was reminded of that by the community of the teens, chatting over their lunch, the clear joy of being together and by the cooperation between the dad and the child commuting to work, not thinking a thing about it, yet both pictures a beautiful: Friendship and unconditional love unfolding in the ordinary and the extraordinary combined. We all have that all of the time, and if we sometimes pause and refrain from it, rethink it, return to it I think the gratefulness will emerge naturally.

In the airbnb where we stay there is a big collection of music, but only four album covers on the wall. One is one of my very favourites, and I take it as a sign: I am at home anywhere, and at the same time ready to learn, open for what is new: Life has something for us up its sleeve if we pay attention. So at the moment we are getting to know the three other albums, while taking in the city of Barcelona, installing ourselves in new habits, stocking the kitchen, getting used to the surroundings, planning out the weeks.

The pictures we take are the best ones, we often say. But sometimes, if we stop to think about them, the pictures we don't take can be very impactful. Important. And long lasting in our memories.

Cecilie, Barcelona March 2025

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