Sometimes the best things can’t be planned. Serendipity.

I will get back to that serendipity in just a sec. I have a massive correction to make. I am not staying in the Gothic Quarter. I am in El Born, the neighborhood next to the Gothic Quarter which looks an awful lot like the Gothic Quarter!

That said, I came around the world to meet two life-giving souls from my own country: Olivia and Stacy. Standing outside Vinya del Senyor with the basilica to my back, I was curious to experience the tremendous wine and tapas offered by a place so strongly recommended by my colleague, Gianluca (a handsome, deeply personable Italian whose name is pronounced “Johnluca”, or something like that – he helped me say his name more correctly multiple times).

Olivia, who is is hard to miss – easily six feet tall, elegant, blond, casually dressed, and with easy mannerisms and confidence – was standing a few feet away, also alone. We were each waiting for a table to open up in the open air outside the bar.

And It was dark, meaning the Spaniards are just now coming out to play, and an accordion player was to my right, playing simple tunes that ironically make me think of Italy.

Next thing I knew, Olivia was chatting with a woman above the bar who was hanging out of the balcony, and then that woman (Stacy) was downstairs and they had invited me to the table they just got sat at. Why not?! Olivia is soaking in glamor, the kind of look and feel that puts someone in the movies and into legend. Stacy is soaking in ADHD. I recognize it as someone who has a best friend with that challenge and gift. Stacy, like my best friend, has ideas coming out of every pour of her body and soul and they just won’t stop! A firehose of life and feeling.

The warmth with which these two woman from Colorado invited me into their table, and friendship, was memorable. Olivia, going into psychology, asked deeply heartfelt and probing questions and listened carefully. Stacy, exiting pharmacology and entering business, shared personal story after personal story. Each member of this trio is well-educated, American, filled with life, and yet fundamentally different. Olivia, who started out in neuroscience and considered being a doctor, is polyamorous. Stacy is also polyamorous and adds to that bisexual. Olivia also works as a stripper and is moved by the similarities between that industry and psychology. I was moved by the comparisons she was able to make! The primary of which was that the people she serves in either context are primarily looking for relationship, connection, or even very simply human touch. She was a wealth of fascinating perspective. I like to think I’m wealth of fascinating perspective, but I am monogamous, currently single, and have never set foot in a strip club.

Stacy was raised Catholic and wants nothing to do with the faith. But I think as we all shared our stories, the most basic fundamentals were the same: a desire to feel life at its fullest, its maximum, and a desire for peace and health. If I had more time I would attempt to tease out where we diverged and converged and why and possibly, most importantly, who these woman were and what joy they brought to my soul. Suffice it to say I am violating the most fundamental rule of creative writing: show, don’t tell. But it’s nearly midnight, I need to go to bed, and I’m honoring my commitment of one post per day, no matter how poorly written it is. (Dear Gods of Writing: please forgive me. I don’t like it either!)