In Canada, today is family day.
We decided to travel to Costa Rica for two months so that we could have family day every day. With the exception of a week that I was away at a retreat and a week that my husband will be away at surf camp, we are together. My dad joined us for the first two weeks and my kids had an opportunity to just hang out with him every single day. We eat every meal together. When it rained hard and nonstop for four days last week, which hasn’t happened in a dozen years, we spent hours and hours playing cards and cuddling in the hammock. I appreciated how they didn’t go stir crazy indoors. (The frequent trips to our favourite chocolate tasting room and cafe probably helped a bit.) I was grateful that we could be together even when we ran out of clean dry laundry.
This brings me to the reason why I haven’t been blogging.
I haven’t been here for a couple of weeks so that I could fully be here.
(Although this pic was taken a couple of weeks ago, I was actually doing this again today with the kids.)
Here meaning completely present to the magic of this place with my family and with myself. Exploring complete awareness through only my senses. I write in my morning pages but then the rest of the day simply flows. I haven’t even taken many pictures because I have soaked up each moment instead of being behind a lens. Being in front of a screen has felt unnatural. I have done it in bits and bites with my phone but I just haven’t been able to bring myself to sit in front of a computer.
I want to see. I want to see what’s in front of me – the dozens of pelicans in the water; the hibiscus flowers dotted along the side of the road; the gigantic leaf holding last night’s rainwater, the 20 ft waves at the beach that was calm a few days before; the changing colour of my children’s skin; and the sloth who I almost bumped into had I not been looking right in front of me.
We have been in Costa Rica for the three weeks.
We have finally settled into a groove.
We no longer jump at the sound of lizards in our bedrooms.
I no longer try to get rid of the neighbour’s cat, Gatillo, that has taken a liking to me.
We have made peace with the mosquitoes, slathering ourselves in coconut oil so that we are just too slippery for them to land on.
Our Spanish is improving thanks to daily conversations with the caretaker, kids activities held in Spanish, and all the locals mistaking us for locals and speaking to us only in Spanish.
My eldest daughter has a standing babysitting gig every week.
We bought a bike.
We live next door to a homeschooling family with four kids and we just met another homeschooling family with four kids.
When the rain falls, we pull out the cards and snuggle in the hammock.
When the sun comes out, we drop everything and run to the beach.
We have attended community events including a cacao fest where I danced and danced after a heavy dose of raw cacao. I have attended a beautiful cacao ceremony/women’s circle.
I have bought my pass for the local yoga studio that should last me for the next 5 weeks.
The kids have made friends that teach them Spanish and who want to learn English.
We have a standing beach volleyball pick-up game every day at 3:30pm at the local surf beach.
We have hiked barefoot in the jungle.
Our homeschool lessons include goddess moon stories, star gazing, animal watching, Spanish songs, making chocolate using raw cacao, and learning how to use the back of a large machete to cut open a pipa.
Every day has felt like family day (except for that one week I went away on a retreat…I’ll talk about that experience tomorrow.)
Todo bien.
***
P.S. We do miss our family and friends very much and are sending our love today…xo.
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