Now that I am beginning to wake up – I can begin to explain that I went on a tour of the Canary Islands with a group.  Our guide, Yuval Kalev, was much younger than most of us, and managed to encourage us to visit many more places and events than we had energy for.  And they were all worth it.  Whether it was a volcano or small town carnival the effort was well worth making.  Now that I have slept for the past day and a half, I really appreciate the amazing intensity of the trip. 

But I was so wasted that when we got to Madrid to fly back, I watched my computer so carefully on the conveyor belt (remember – my last computer disappeared at JFK) that I forgot to pick up the other stuff.  As I was putting on the shoes I’d been ordered to remove, a young inspector came over with my passport and chided me sweetly for my memory loss.

The embarassment remained with me as we found our way to the train for the next step.  And half way to the next terminal I realized I had also forgotten to pick up my watch. 

We have to call Yuval, someone – maybe me – said.  Because we were among the first in the group to check-in and Yuval, the good shepherd, would probably be the last, there was a chance he would still be at the security station.

Would you believe it, he found the watch.  And identified it with the help of a photo of me wearing the watch.  But how to convince the security officials that the watch was mine and he had the right to take the watch to me?  Yuval found a photo of me on the watch, and the photos matched. 

Of the entire miraculous trip, this moment was the most miraculous to me.

Since Ezi sometimes reads this blog, and knows how forgetful I am,I knew he would get a kick out of this.