Madrileña

My Dear Madrileña,

Every sound of your home is foreign to my ears. From the screaming, groaning metro to the nearly silent park swing.  The singing in the church full of people from every  country but the one we are in.  The crunch of my pan con tomate and the pressured escape of the steam from our cafetera.  To your 7 month old ears it must be a strange and fascinating symphony.  So many sounds swirling together into a beautiful whole.

But by human bias, I filter it all as lesser than my own home.  As something subpar.  I miss the sounds of steeple bells and open green backyards rustling in the wind.  The sound of the car engine starting every day we left the house.  Angry dogs barking and trampoline springs creaking.  I miss these sounds because they were the earliest sounds I knew.  

     The sounds of Madrid will be the sounds of your first home.  And I often wonder what this place will feel like to you once you are old enough to understand.  Once you can name the things you hear and ponder how they shaped your experiences.

  If God allows, we will leave this place when you are two, to be near your grandparents.  But I know that someday you will make your way back.  Back to your concrete roots.  To the raucous sounds of community in the center of Madrid.  When you finally make your return, I hope that everything you hear makes you feel like you belong.

Whether or not that hope comes true, there are two beautiful groups of sounds that can come to new homes with you.  One is the voices of loved ones. This generation we can talk to our loved ones in many parts of the world  any time they are awake.  The sweet caress of words of love. The gruff and important correction. The bonding over soft tears. We have brought the sound of loved ones from near and from far into your life and I hope you will choose to seek these sounds as long as you and they are on this Earth. 

The other borderless collection of sounds is music. I do not think anyone has fully explored how music streaming has changed our world. We can summon a song for any attitude, any challenge, any celebration from nearly infinite options.  Use this blessing with wisdom and it will add immense well-being to your life.  Sometimes that means worship songs and sometimes that means NPR Tiny Desk concerts after school.  Some days need violins to reach their full potential and others need brash wailing guitars.

There is one more thing I hope you hear from this day until the day you die.  Something you must hear without ears. Something we often disvalue since it is so hard to notice. That is the all powerful voice of God singing over you in whatever land you find yourself.  Listen for this inaudible song in the middle of your everyday rush and fears.  Especially when you feel there is no one country that can contain you or you feel you might not have any place to call home.  God will answer you:

“I will tell you where your home is.  You are my chosen child, and your home is right here with me.”