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So much to write about today! One of my long time friends is coming from the states to visit me for a couple of weeks. She will arrive tomorrow, and I don't know which one of us is the more excited about her visit! One thing about moving this far away from all my friends, other than missing them terribly, is that now they have an excuse to travel. We have a trip on a catamaran scheduled, and will do some of the other fun things too. Got to go to a volcano or two, to a hot springs, a rain forest, and going to try to do a zip line also. I have not seen much of Costa Rica myself, yet, so this will be an adventure for me as well. So many places and things to see, and still we will have time to get caught up on all the girl talk as well. She will have to get some sun, to show off when she goes back to the low temperatures of Illinois again. I'm sure that will be no problem, with the fact that we are in our summer now! It has been right around the high 70*s, and low 80*s, everyday now, and not a drop of rain. That also means very little power outages, and no internet flakiness either. Wonderful!
I have been going through some things, still can't figure out why I even brought all the stuff I did. The clothing I use to wear to work, dress clothes I call them now, are not of much good to me here. Well, at least not in the quantity that I had. I never dress up, say once or twice a year...there will be a June wedding, and I add a jacket now and then for show, it comes off soon after I am where I am going. And everyone of my friends has short term memory loss, so even if I wear the same thing to each "event", no one remembers, and oh the uhhhs and ahhhhs one gets. Even when I put on make up, it is an "event", they call me glamorous...like it was a red carpet event. We do have fun though, seeing how different we look when we "make-up" or play "dress-up". It take so little to entertain us... Anyway, what I started to say was that, I sorted out the things I could really live without, and carried a bunch of things to the neighbors. The Tico's are the most GRATEFULL people I have ever met. They have so little, and are happy with life. The neighbors have 3 daughters, early 20's, and all are such hard workers. They were so glad to get the clothing, and what they can't wear as it is, they will redesign it, and it will have a new life. How glad I am that they will use the things I gave them. Some time back, I cleaned out the 30 some odd pair of shoes that I brought, and gave many pair, and handbags, to them also. Within 10 minutes, 3 pair were being worn.
This week was "the mother's" birthday, so I put together a small bag of bath lotion and spray for her, and took it to her house. She was at a loss for words, and it has been a long time since I saw so many tears of thankfulness. It was an expression of my gratitude for her friendship, and I wondered if her family had been able to give her anything. I'm almost sure they could not afford to buy her a present. We gringos, are so blessed, even on our retirement benefits, we have more than they. And it is amazing that I spent so much on just clothing, while I was working, and now I think how much money I would have, had I not just "had to have" the many things I bought over the years. I, like many others, got caught up in the cycle of spend, spend, spend, and the things that were a "must have". I am truly amazed at the little I need now, and how happy I can be, not having the stress that comes with the "stuff".
I have been going through some things, still can't figure out why I even brought all the stuff I did. The clothing I use to wear to work, dress clothes I call them now, are not of much good to me here. Well, at least not in the quantity that I had. I never dress up, say once or twice a year...there will be a June wedding, and I add a jacket now and then for show, it comes off soon after I am where I am going. And everyone of my friends has short term memory loss, so even if I wear the same thing to each "event", no one remembers, and oh the uhhhs and ahhhhs one gets. Even when I put on make up, it is an "event", they call me glamorous...like it was a red carpet event. We do have fun though, seeing how different we look when we "make-up" or play "dress-up". It take so little to entertain us... Anyway, what I started to say was that, I sorted out the things I could really live without, and carried a bunch of things to the neighbors. The Tico's are the most GRATEFULL people I have ever met. They have so little, and are happy with life. The neighbors have 3 daughters, early 20's, and all are such hard workers. They were so glad to get the clothing, and what they can't wear as it is, they will redesign it, and it will have a new life. How glad I am that they will use the things I gave them. Some time back, I cleaned out the 30 some odd pair of shoes that I brought, and gave many pair, and handbags, to them also. Within 10 minutes, 3 pair were being worn.
This week was "the mother's" birthday, so I put together a small bag of bath lotion and spray for her, and took it to her house. She was at a loss for words, and it has been a long time since I saw so many tears of thankfulness. It was an expression of my gratitude for her friendship, and I wondered if her family had been able to give her anything. I'm almost sure they could not afford to buy her a present. We gringos, are so blessed, even on our retirement benefits, we have more than they. And it is amazing that I spent so much on just clothing, while I was working, and now I think how much money I would have, had I not just "had to have" the many things I bought over the years. I, like many others, got caught up in the cycle of spend, spend, spend, and the things that were a "must have". I am truly amazed at the little I need now, and how happy I can be, not having the stress that comes with the "stuff".
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