when i’m sixty-four

some friends & i hopped in the car, drove to a little town called avon in New York.

the girls went into this beautiful little thrift/antique store, and … everything was lovely. old chairs with little rips in the fabric, tea cups with tiny chips [from a careless wash? a quick packing job?] and wooden furniture that you can tell have decades of stories hidden in them.

I met a spirited, elderly woman. I would guess her to be around 75/80 years old. she was buying a wooden, hand-made chest, and was waiting on a rocking chair while it was loaded in her car.

she told me how [ when she was 22 and newly married] she and her husband would go to the lumberyard, buy their own wood, and make their own furniture.

she still has that furniture in her home.
same home.
same furniture.

I hope her husband is still with her in that lovely home of theirs. full of stories.

is…is it nerdy that seeing this image [of a thousand books]
make me do a

giddy
little
dance?

THIS

i love this.
vibrant&beautiful 

but so.damn. messy.
mm.
 

beautiful.

one of my many ‘little&random pockets of goodness” in san jose; Parque Morazan.

I’ve been avoiding updating this blog for the past week or so, because it’s an overwhelming thought; to have to “wrap up” or summarize the experience that i’ve had living here in Costa Rica. perhaps that’s just a self-imposed notion that should probably be thrown out the window. [seeing as it’s an impossible task that i’ve apparently given myself]

Yesterday, cindy and i decided to take our books & our favorite bottles of pop down to a fantastic park near our home. we walked to the top of this beautiful hill [with a tree sitting right at the peak], took a seat, and chatted about our time here as our gazes went back and forth between the picturesque mountains and the families flying kites [seriously. everyone does that here.]

even though we’ve lived in the same place for the past 3 and a half months, i think it’s safe to say that we’ve had different experiences [ in the ways that we’ve interpreted cultural norms, our experiences at work, etc]. But, as we were talking about our experiences of entering back into CR after our individual trips to Nicaragua, we realized that coming back to Costa Rica felt more natural, much more normal, than we anticipated.

it has taken 3 months for me to feel ‘at home’ here.

this is not to say that people haven’t been hospitable or welcoming.
& this is not to say that i’ve been walking around in a constant state of discomfort during these 3 months.

I only mean that when i returned to costa rica from nicaragua, driving up to our little apartment, and walking up and down our street, didn’t feel foreign anymore. i was no longer in a mental state of “this is me walking up a street in Costa Rica.” or “this is me going to the corner store, to buy some bread, in Costa Rica”. it was simply…. a normal thing to do.

does that make sense?

all this to say, i can definitely see & understand the beauty and wisdom in taking on an international internship at the minimum of 6 months.

even though it took me this long to become fully comfortable here, i wouldn’t change my experience for anything. i’m happy that i’m finally at a place where i can wake up in the morning and not have a constant count-down in my morning-thoughts; “t-minus 45 days until i am home”. I’m happy that I can spend my last week in this country, just doing “normal” city things, enjoying what i’ve come to know in Costa Rica.

the following needs to be mentioned, however. [if for no other reason, than my own sanity]

 some of you have heard me say, [or have….. read me write…?] about my excitement to come home, and have encouraged/told me not to miss home and to just enjoy my time here.
know that this does not come from a place of me being miserable here. that is most certainly not the case.

This country is beautiful, has a million things to do & see, and i have enjoyed the places that i’ve been able to travel to.

but San Jose is not a “paradise” of any sort. please understand that the pictures you see are of places that i’ve been blessed enough to travel to on some weekends. other than that, it isn’t really that smart of an idea for me to carry my camera in the neighborhood that i work in.
getting something stolen isn’t on my list of things to do while im here.

i’m not going to lie and say that everything here has been peachy; that would be far from the truth. there are some real dangers that you are constantly reminded of when you work in the city. & it’s going to be a major transition going back home, and not automatically turning your head away or looking at the ground when walking past any man.

i just needed to articulate that, because i feel as though there are some [understandable] misconceptions that have been formed back home.

entonces.

i’m really looking forward to this next week. i want to spend as much time as i can [in what i’ve ‘lovingly’ come to call] “the little & random, pockets of goodness in San Jose”

[consisting mainly of the parks, plazas & artisan market].

i have 9 days until i am back in my home in toronto,
& i have 9 beautiful days to enjoy the home i’ve experienced and found here.

“I’ll bet Adam must have gone on a very long walk with God and thanked Him, and I’ll bet that was a very beautiful conversation.

I’ll bet Adam felt loved by God, like he was somebody God was always trying to bless and surprise with amazing experiences,

and

I’ll bet they talked together about how beautiful Eve was and how wonderful it was that the two of them could know her,

and I imagine that Eve felt safe. loved. Not used or gawked at, but appreciated and admired.”

-D.Miller

beautythings:

Mumford & Sons - Come thou fount of every blessing