Today we've been traveling most of the day. More than half the time was spent in the Airport, on the plane or in the metro. It's been a long day, but funny at the same time.
With out much to report as far as pilgrimage goe
s we have decided to dedicate this blog to our fearless Padre Vaca- AKA Father Cow, The Cannon Wrecker of All Douglassville, Calvin C. Ad
ams esquire.
The day began with a famous Calvin Quote directed at Lucy and Amanda - " Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey" - after which Lucy promptly returned to bed and slept until a second wake up call. :) It's fine we all slept in today. (We probably could have slept in more as our flight didn't actually leave Santiago until nearly 1 pm and our flight's gate didn't open until 11 am despite getting to the airport at 10) Father Cal, assured us all that " This was all part of the adventure".
He made a new friend with Patricia, our guide to the airp
ort, he and she shared coffee, and he told her all about Santiago and our experiences with our guide yesterday Joaquin.
After we got through securidad- Kynd
ra and he worked on an evening prayer that we didn't actually get to pray, but tomorrow we will be having an evening mass, which will require the help of Thomas, Kyndra and myself which will undoubtedly be some kind of production. We waite
d, and paced, and we ate some little munchies in the terminal.
By the time we got to the Madrid airport we realised that since Calvin has the most items to remove, between his coat, his belt, his fully laced sneakers, his hat and his electronics, that in the future he needs to go through security first- not last. We all waited on him while
he talked and tried to tie his shoes at the same time.
When we got checked into the hotel it was 3:30 and we had an hour before Iraida would be here to meet pick us up for dinner. We had enough time to shower and change before she arrived, and as usual Father Cal was the last to a
rrive, in a bright yellow polo which could be seen from outer space.
Iraida verged on sainthood as Cal attempted Spanish and lectured on the finer points of Portuguese and Italian. She was the champ of the teenage stare while he talked at her. It was good work.
After we arrived at the metro station we needed to wait for the Castro family to pick us up in their caravan of cars. While waiting Cal meditated on the possibility of becoming Islamic in his retirement, and we wrapped his head in a scarf, truly to keep the sun off his fair sk
Upon arriving at the Casa de Castro, Cal entertained Mama (Elena) with his half spanish, half portugese, half italian, half english all Calvin language. She smiledinned head, but it made for an interesting photo opportunity none the less.
and laughed and kept the food and coffee coming. Some major points of the conversation included:
- Fr Cal's love of the cheap yellow mustard
- Having Collin point at his head and spell the abbreviation for Mountain
- Calling Iraida's eldest sister Carolita, Carololita
- Taking up the invitation to come back when ever we are in Spain, in earnest, he might be back next week
- Fr Cal loves the hospitality of visiting someone's home. He spoke of this for a good 30 minutes as we were trying to leave,
gracefully.
There are so many Cal- isms that I can't begin to list them all here, but trust there are stories to tell before we sleep so if you ever want to laugh let us know and we have at least a handful of stories to share. Including his learning how to play the "glass" and stealing the seat in the back of the bus.
(as a side note to all your parents out there reading this, Sally Heist lent me a book to read on the trip by Mitch Albom called "A Little Faith" I highly recommend you read this book and when you do Thank God that your teenager knows and loves Fr. Cal. in a way that most people in their teen years do not have the opportunity to. I know that this transition into retirement will not be an easy one for him or for us, but trust that this relationship is unique and they will always have a concept of what a man of God, is meant to be- flawed and fabulous- as mo
deled in Fr Calvin C. Adams)
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