pura vida

I chose this silly title because I have no idea what this post is going to be about, just like when you start writing code, you’re not really sure what is going to happen. Like, is this going to be a hot mess or a thing of beauty. Let’s find out, shall we??

This post could be about electrocution beach day which, if you don’t know, is kind of like electric beach day but way worse because the beautiful purple clouds are directly over your head and the lightning keeps coming closer and closer to your small self on the big lonely beach. Your clothes and towels are soaked, and the sound of thunder is loud and close enough that you drag your kids out of the water and haphazardly scoop up all your belongings, running into the woods which are dark and dripping wet but feel way safer than the open sky. If you can’t tell, I don’t recommend electrocution beach day.

It could be about longing beach day which, if you don’t know, is a special sort of double beach day where you’ve already swam a couple kilometers in a turquoise bay early in the morning, and you think, I’ll just walk along the beach at dusk because do I really need to get into the water again that’s really a bit extravagant isn’t it? But when you get to the beach, all you can see are the places where a boogie board would sit perfectly on the wave and all you can think about is being pushed into the sand and then out into the water by the warm, clear waves. If you can’t tell, I recommend always being prepared to experience any beach day that comes your way, instead of sitting on a log, longing.

It could be about the temporada de lluvias, which has fully arrived. Everything is very … moist. I have to be careful about how much I buy at the market because it will rot very quickly, noticeably more quickly than two weeks ago. Other things that have been collecting mold around here: my Birkenstocks (green colonies, seemingly of different varieties of mold, it’s very pretty actually if I didn’t want to wear them sometimes), our hats (black spots), our toothpaste (long story but true!), the bottom of our blender (grey fuzz). I am compiling this list on Sunday night and I’m certain I will have something to add to it by the time I publish (rotten between written and published: sweet potatoes, onion, my bathing suit).

Sidenote: Do you feel deaf? I do. I can’t tell if my brain isn’t working or my ears. This is mostly manifesting around the kids and Trieu. Is it the constant whir of fans everywhere providing just enough background noise so I can’t hear a word they’re saying? Or is it a defense mechanism against the sensory overload that is my family life? Anyway, I feel a hearing aid is in my future.

But back to this post, which could be about friends! We have some friends! Hungarian friends, English friends, Russian friends, Australian friends, Argentinean and Costa Rican acquaintances (working on this … the language barrier is hard). Sometimes I have to be like: umm, I have to work friend, I can’t have coffee/go to spin class/go to yoga/go for a swim every day of the week. In general, the pace of life here is so much more balanced. I don’t know where all my time was going in the states, honestly, I really don’t. It could be the contrast of my time spent preparing for this adventure which was totally insane. Or maybe energy spent freaking out about the state of the world and all the terrible news. I definitely think it has something to do with my kids having a more regular school schedule with fewer days off, half days, and random interruptions, as well as Trieu having a lighter load at work. And there may be something about the heat of the days, which make it impossible to really grind in the same way I used to. Pura vida!

Lest you think this blog post is all about my wonderful new life, last week we lost water for about 48 hours which was less than pleasant. I understand logically that showers are important for teenagers but now I understand it in a more visceral way. Since we’ve already covered my moldy bathing suit and my potential hearing aid, I’m going to refrain from giving you all the bodily details. The point is that our journey continues to be a surprise every day, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse, but a surprise nonetheless.

p.s. Thanks for following along. 🙂 Miss you all!

p.p.s. These pictures have nothing to do with anything. Sorry!