I have two major loves in life after Jesus: my husband and Spain. You probably didn’t know, but I was a Spanish major in college. It was through my incredible professors and study of the language that I fell in love with the culture of Spain, so much so, that I was supposed to study abroad for my junior year of college. I had chosen my university, picked my classes, met my cohort and booked my flight. Then my grandma passed away and suddenly our financial situation shifted. I pulled out of the program only a month before the semester began. It was a dark time in my life for many reasons, but the biggest of all being the looming sense of failure.

But God redeems.

Little did I know that I would meet my husband here in Riverside the year I was supposed to study abroad. I would also go through a radical rededication of my life to the Lord, probably my first real dedication. Though I could see the good that came from not going abroad I still felt a deep yearning to experience the corner of Spain I envisioned my life in. In the back of my head, the dream of Granada felt like a thorn in my flesh. It felt like since I didn’t study abroad I would never be fluent and I would never get to visit. I know it’s dramatic, but the season it happened was truly confidence crushing. I changed my major from Spanish to linguistics, convinced that I would never be successful without going abroad. It was a wound that I didn’t recognize fully until Doug and I were planning our honeymoon. When thinking about what we wanted to do he offered, “What about Spain? You love this country so much and we can even go to the very city you were going to live in.”

He had always talked about spending our honeymoon somewhere tropical. It felt like a huge surprise to even consider this option, but he was serious and persistent. So we planned a two week trip to Spain for a year after our wedding. We flew into Madrid, bussed down the countryside into Granada, then to Málaga, then to Sevilla before making our way back to Madrid. I got to experience all these things I dreamt about, but this time with my amazing husband. We enjoyed tapas, museums, the Spanish coast, and lots of panaderías. It was a dream.

Since 2019 we’ve been able to go back once more and hope to make this a semi-annual trip. Young 21 year old Reagan vlogged the whole experience and I think it’s only fitting to share it here. They are cringy, but sweet and something I am so thankful I have.