No Te Preocupe

If I had a nickel for every time someone has said, No te preocupe, I’d be living large. This ubiquitous phrase loosely translates to “Don’t worry about it”. But I do worry. I worry because I understand about 60% of anything anyone says to me. What if the essence, the critically important stuff is contained in the other 40%?

I am told we need the empadronamiento paperwork to send the kids to school. When I fill it out, she sends me off with "no te preocupe". Does this mean they will approve? Deny? Or it doesn’t matter? I worry that maybe someday they may say, your kids can’t stay in school without it.   

I worry because sometimes it does matter. When we buy the wrong notebooks and drawing pad for school, JT’s teacher decides the whole class can’t have art because the paper he has is missing a narrow margin around the outside. Really…what a great way to endear a child to his new class!

I worry because when we go to the bank to get a new cash card for the bank account we opened 10 years ago, they won't give us one because Tom’s new passport has a different number than his old passport.

I worry that the kids Spanish isn’t good enough for them to make friends. Today, Zoe, as an "extranjero", was assessed to see if she warrants a tutor. I worry that the local accent is too strong for them.

I worry because the swim team people seem so nice, but then tell us can’t watch practice to see if it’s a fit. And practice is from 8-10pm and we have to take a city bus to get there.

Deep down, I know it’ll all work out, but sometimes I just can't help worrying.