La Pequeña Georgia

Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here's my version, then theirs.

Four years ago yesterday, while the rest of Caceres was celebrating San Jorge (Saint George), I sat in the maternity ward of the local hospital awaiting the arrival of my second daughter. I say awaiting her arrival, because as she was the second, I knew that she wasn’t arriving via Stork Airlines and the look on my wife’s face let me know that it wasn’t going to be an easy landing. It’s a holiday here and everyone knows that it's just that much harder to get up and go to work when you have to, yet there wasn’t a trace of regret in the attentive faces of the staff helping my partner through this. Their own families were surely getting together that day and it goes without saying where they would have rather been but there was absolutely no spite in their actions. The health of my wife and the baby were the only priorities at that moment. If her birth would have seen us living in many other countries, I would have had to take our credit card from between my wife’s teeth and pray to the dragon slayer that our limit was high enough to pay, but thankfully, the only prayer here that was needed was for their well-being. I look at my four year old daughter today and think about her future and wonder what awaits her. Will she be lucky enough to be able to start a family without having to take out a loan simply to be able to give birth to her children in a safe environment? Will I be able to pick up her kids from school or will I be forced to continue working beyond my seventh decade? Will whatever is left of public funds have disappeared in EREs, Canales in Madrid and luxury cars for greedy men in Cataluñawith the same name as the Saint? The Patron of Caceres is a figure that crosses national boundaries and even religions. He had some serious dragons to take care of in the past but I think that a much greater threat exists today than what the dragon traditionally represents. I’m not one for prayers but if I were, I’d ask for just a little less greed so that she too can have things at least as good as we enjoy now.