kellycrull.com - expat life in Spain

I gave my frisbee away today. It was the yellow one Case Boot gave me at his garage sale just before we moved to Madrid, the one with the hand-painted Garfield’s head on the back.My friend Kelly didn’t ask me for the frisbee or anything. I just gave it to her like a kid giving away a favorite toy. It seemed like the right thing to do.

Part of leaving one place and moving to another is making room for the place you’re leaving inside yourself, letting it find its resting place, its place in your life, your history, your memories.

A frisbee is a frisbee. It’s nothing more than a piece of plastic. And yes, I do feel like a 5-year-old telling you the story about how I gave my frisbee away. Still, leaving my frisbee in Madrid is, I suppose, leaving a little of myself behind—leaving a part of me here that belongs here. Yellow frisbees belong in Madrid.

I staked out my frisbee spot in Madrid a long time ago. It’s a place where I’ve spent time with my favorite people. Each time, just me and a friend. We had good conversations. Or sometimes we did, and sometimes we didn’t talk at all. Silence is okay when you’re tossing the frisbee. You have time to think, to let everything soak in.

We call the spot “Templo.” It’s this park perched in the center of the city with an Egyptian temple in the middle. It is as strange as it sounds, and a perfect spot for throwing a frisbee. It’s quiet, spacious, and green.

I’m leaving Madrid in a few weeks, and next fall I’ll be setting up camp in Castellón de la Plana. A new city, a new job, a new life.

I’ve been packing boxes in my apartment already, and yesterday I ran across this other frisbee I have. It’s a red one with a sticker of the Pringle’s man’s face on the front. It’s a good frisbee. The only reason I’ve never used it before is because I had the yellow one. I’m not sure what will happen in the fall. Maybe I just found my Castellón frisbee. Now I just need a good spot.