The sounds of silence

This weekend came and went just like this semester is coming and going.

I’m forced to look back at my time and ask where it all went.

What happened to all those moments? 

Hopefully, I documented them. 
I want to be able to relive each and every one for years to come.

This post should have echoes of happiness and joy because I promise you that I am happy and joyful. But this life is coming to an end which leaves me with feelings of melancholy. Not in a remorseful sense, but rather in a contemplative sense.

Moments in time come and go all too quickly.

The optimist inside of me looks to the month that is still to come.

The pessimist inside of me looks back to the months that are over and done with. 

The realist inside of me accepts that time continually passes and nothing can change that.

Yet I want to. 
I keep finding myself trying to stop time, if only for a second.

Enough time to take a deeper breath

And to enjoy the sun a little bit longer

To laugh a little bit louder

And appreciate the company a little bit more.

These moments are fleeting yet these moments are what make my time here so valuable.

The sounds of silence are appreciated in moments of stillness

Silence provides peace and stillness provides silence

The silence is broken so that friendships may be formed

Dialogue exchanged

Laughs shared

Inside joking and outside observing

Lives lived together and never to be lived again in this way

Maybe silently, we all recognize it and choose not to talk about it
Maybe silently, we talk about it and choose not to recognize it

El tiempo perfecto

A bright sun makes the sky radiate its brilliant blue against the trees who can’t seem to make up their mind when it comes to keeping their leaves or not.

Some leaves are still that certain shade of yellow and hold on for dear life.

Others have reached that particular type of orange and decide to descend gracefully to their final resting place.

Just like us, they choose to enjoy the warm sun while lying still on the cool grass.

Being in Granada this weekend reminded me how much I appreciate smaller towns
An absence of hustling and bustling is appreciated
A presence of walking and talking is welcomed

The buildings look the same as in Barcelona but the people look more Spanish

Barcelona is such a metropolitan city, it’s hard to determine who is from Barcelona and who Barcelona is from

Austin is the same way

There are those that were born and raised in Austin

And then there are people like me, who are being raised and born in Austin.

Small towns allow a certain stillness to settle between the people

Sounds of silence allow my mind to contemplate without trying

Sounds of laughter allow me to enjoy without thinking

One is no more valuable than another

Both recognize the beauty of the moments that inhabit them

Again, I find myself waking up to a spectacular Monday morning in Barcelona

Words are not enough to describe how grateful I am for having this life

Nor are they enough to document each moment I live, though I do my best and try anyways

I am blessed beyond measure
That much is clear

In the next month, my thoughts will start to become more pensive as my time here draws to an end
Louder laughs

Bigger smiles
Slower walks
But faster time as days quickly turn into nights and the nights quickly turn back into days

Again, contemplation finds its way back into the lineup

Anticipation finds its way back into my routine

Thankfulness finds itself at every chance

And the sounds of silence are heard once again