Moments...

Every year has its special moments. Some are totally connected to a specific year: a good friend's wedding, small or big achievements by close people, that special trip you had long been anticipating, or other instants that come across you without further notice. Some might even mark an important life turning point. But there's also those recurring moments that happen during a short or long period of years. This weekend I had one of those.

In such occasions one decides to throw a celebration: a big time party, a simple and discreet moment of joy, or it could even be just that intimate thought that accompanies you all day, resulting from your sentimental and intellectual trajectory. I chose every single possible way. On Friday, I turned 32 and decided to celebrate it with work colleagues at the office, with a nice lunch and relaxed afternoon with my wife, and with fellow beer drinkers at night, in Gràcia (Barcelona). Also, during the weekend I have had the opportunity to have lunch with my nanny's, parents, sister and in-laws. Eventually, I reach the end of the weekend with my intimate thoughts, willing to spend some quality time with them while I drink a special beer.

I guess that most beer geeks tend to store some beers for moments like this. My beer was not only special on its own, but also because of the circumstances in which I bought it. I brought it back as a souvenir of my visit to De Molen brewery and their Borefts Bier Festival 2013, in Bodegraven. It was my 30th birthday present by Mrs. Birraire. I decide to match my Hel & Verdoemenis Misto with a sacher cake that my mother made for lunch on Saturday. But it is not about beer pairings today.

On the other hand, I begin to think about my life. I reflect on all these years and the various moments I've lived. This time it is about the specific moments, not the recurring ones. I think about all the things that I've done: rights and wrongs, some disappointments, but most of all happy memories.

I remember those City Festivals in Sabadell, discovering leisure activities and night-time, as well as those fab summer parties at that small beach cove in Costa Brava, with friends with whom I still have the pleasure to share more than just good memories. I keep growing and I think about those days that we never wanted to end, when we saw the sun rise most mornings. That's when my sentimental life turned 180 degrees.

Impossible to forget those desperate late night frankfurts, or those pub gigs I attended in Cerdanyola. Then there's also that night in which I felt my condition of college student had come to an end, or those first overnight stays in hotels, already being a financial risk consultant. I can think too of that period during which I drowned my multiple sorrows in my beloved Madrid. My wedding's also present, as it is that midday in Vilanova in which I began to be part of a big beer project, unaware that it would mean one of my most intense personal experiences.

Lots of moments, indeed. Some came all of a sudden, with no prior notice. Other were quite foreseeable. But all of them, and many more that I could write long about, had the same element in common: I spent them with a beer in hand, no exceptions.

Just like now. After this summarised retrospective review of my life I look forward to the future, to those moments I already foresee. There's uncertain moments ahead of me: hopes and fears, with lots of questions and fewer answers. But above all happy times, no doubt. I see how I come to understand stuff I hadn't been able to assess with enough knowledge. And that's just for starters.

These times ahead are the beggining of a new stage, of new relevant moments that will surely be accompanied in the same way that the preceding. Good occasions to share the joy and feel the fondness of the important people in my life. It is with utter excitement that I still feel amazed to see that we have been able to create a new life, that will soon enrich our families. 

Miss Birraire is on her way.

Salut i birra!