Without Rain, Nothing Grows. Embrace The Storms In Your Life

Nov 27, 2025
2 min read

Updated: May 4

Another wonderful Buddhist teaching. My “storm” came with great gifts.

I have mentioned a couple of times already how the first apartment we moved into in Valencia was not what we had hoped for, or what the real estate company painted it to be. I suppose it’s time to delve a little more into it, as it has greatly defined the purpose of our business, and it could help others who are considering moving to the Valencian Community as well.

When we were first presented with the floor (or piso), it seemed great, and since we were already three weeks away from the day we would fly out, we needed to settle for something to rent soon, but after entering the property on the day we arrived, I started to feel like something was missing. A month and a half into it, I found out the owners had kept very important information from us (and the real estate company had missed it). Long story short, I decided right away that it was best to find a new property, and even though we had to find legal assistance to get our money back and had to start packing to move again, I believe it was the best decision we could have made.

I mean, I wish we had gotten it right the first time (finding the apartment), but there is always a perfect reason why bad weather comes our way. Two wonderful gifts came from it.

The first one is that the new apartment had an amazing terrace, it was located on the last floor (the penthouse), and it was cheaper! Right away, I realised it was going to be the first step for growing native European plants, and my dream of creating a habitat for bees, butterflies, and birds was becoming a reality.

Surprisingly, "the trouble" of looking for a new place was aligning with our new business plan! I want our company to revolve around something greater, like the importance of supporting green corridors for fauna to thrive through urban and rural design. This is something I learned while working for the environment, to include in architectural designs, ways of supporting biodiversity. By raising all these buildings for us to live in, we are contributing to depleting their habitat. I feel we owe it to them.

I started to think about the perfect name for our company, and decided to include the word Abella because it means bees in Valencian! I am really hoping that they see how much we would love to make a difference in their precious community and support our initiatives. We won’t be able to thrive unless they are willing to work with us allow us to build habitats for pollinators, big or small.

Oh, and the second blessing is that I consider the first attorney I met in Valencia my good friend! His name is Vicente, and he has a lovely heart.

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