connect spin the globe
ILLUSTRATIONS BY EMILIANO PONZI SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 AFAR 75
SPANISH LESSONS
In the flamenco clubs, soaring basilicas, and peaceful plazas of Spain, author Mira T. Lee
rediscovers sides of herself that she thought she had lost forever.solo trip to Costa Rica, I was also in the grip of a burgeoning salsa dancing
addiction, and between gigging, dancing, and my valiant efforts to take
part in Boston’s dating scene, I was out three, four, five nights a week.
Today, I’m a writer, married, with two small children. I do none of
those things that once filled my days and nights. By 9 p.m. I’m often
prone on the couch, or happily curled up in bed with a book. When the
kids were babies, this wasn’t a choice. I was that tired. Now that they’re
older, I could experience Boston’s culture and nightlife again, but I find
I mostly don’t feel like it. This is not something I disclose with regret or
even wistfulness. Though sometimes I do wonder: How many parts of
your identity can you lose before you lose yourself?
Over the past decade, motherhood has transformed my life into...
clutter. The house, the car, the laptop, the desk, but most of all, my
jumbled head, where I carry a clichéd checklist of parental tasks: buy
this, sign this, schedule this, pay this. I’m eternally busy, planning andI
T HAS BEEN six months of anticipation, alternating between
excitement and dread, but when I receive my Spin the Globe as-
signment, I’m ecstatic: MADRID. “Maybe you’ll see Ferdinand!”
says my six-year-old, referring to the pacifist bull from Munro
Leaf ’s famous picture book, the one who likes to “sit just quietly and
smell the flowers.”
Within minutes I’m flooded with recommendations from my friends
on Facebook: This museum, that market, best churros con chocolate at
this café! Don’t miss the Goyas, the pulpo (octopus), the Iberian pork, and
go find Tío Pepe.... I ride this tidal wave of enthusiasm, but part of me
soon wonders if I would’ve been better off just winging it. Spontaneity is
romantic, fun, adventurous—at least, that’s what I recall. But it has been 18
years since I last traveled alone in a foreign country. Things have changed.
Back in 2001, I was single, a graphic designer, a late-night creature
who played drums in various jazz and pop bands. Thanks to a two-month