Age is Just a Number

October 21, 2022

Today my friend and I went up to Port Sapalaya. It’s a coastal community just north of Valencia, where the houses are built along canals. It’s known as the “Venice of Valencia.” Indeed, someone had a clever idea in creating it. The residents can safely store their boats alongside their homes and cruise out to enjoy the Mediterranean in minutes. Some houses are two- or three-story while others are pisos or one-level apartments.

We enjoyed our stroll through the neighborhood and took in the beauty of flowers blooming in October.

Then it was time to find some lunch. Since we’re now into the off-season, the restaurant wasn’t crowded. We struggled to communicate with the non-English-speaking waiter because the online menu was stuck in English; I couldn’t get it to flip over to Spanish to place the order. An older couple from the table next to us stood up to help. They spoke a bit of English, and I ensured we were getting what we wanted for lunch. I thought the two of them must have been the restaurant’s owners or managers.

My friend wanted to try a glass of the amber-colored rosé that was on the table, but it was only available by the bottle. They offered red or white wine by the glass. Since they didn’t have any gluten-free beer, and they were trying to talk us into a bottle, I said, “Sure, why not?” Neither of us is a big drinker; we hadn’t yet splurged on drinks.

The funny thing was that the server brought a completely different bottle of wine to the table. My friend was initially disappointed because she wanted to try the other wine. The manager said that we could try it, and they would take it back if we didn’t like it. It was delicious, a little sweet, but light. Perfect for a warm afternoon at the beach.

Seeing that we were happy, our hostess began to chat with us, in Spanish, of course! (My friend doesn’t speak Spanish.) Our hostess told us how we needed to enjoy our retirement years because who knows how many years we have left? Her advice was to get up every morning, give yourself a virtual kiss, and say that you are a princess. In the evening, you must go out, drink wine, dance, and “brin-brin.” (I’m still not exactly sure what brin-brin means, but I felt like it meant to sparkle.) She kept talking and talking. Would she leave before our food arrived? 

Finally, she said she needed to go prepare our food and left. Clearly, she wasn’t the chef because she found another table to chat up.

She was 77 years old and looked like she was in her 50s. Maybe we should all heed her advice.

We enjoyed our leisurely seafood lunch and sipped that delicious wine in the afternoon sun. Afterward, we strolled down the beach to the city beach of Valencia. The wind picked up, and the clouds came in as we walked, creating artful skies. It even sprinkled a bit, a glorious afternoon!