Say Yes.

I am lazy. And no, I don’t mean the kind of lazy where you just want to lie around all day watching TV and eating chips and popcorn and ice cream because real food is too much work. (I mean sometimes I’m that kind of lazy…but who isn’t really?) No, I’m talking about the kind of lazy that keeps you from really enjoying life. The kind of lazy that makes you say no to things that you know will be fun and will enrich your life. The kind of lazy that leaves you home alone in your apartment washing dishes and sweeping up microscopic grains of dust that somehow seem to multiply just faster than you can remove them, while your friends are hiking a 14er or skiing fresh powder or lying on a beach somewhere clear and beautiful. It’s just easier to stay home. It’s easier to be alone and to look at the pictures later and have a moment of regret before moving on with your life.

I am that kind of lazy. Or I was.

The past 4 weekends in a row I have done something that I normally would have said no to. In fact, initially I did say no. I always said no.

“No, I think I’m just going to sleep in and get some stuff done. You guys have fun at the beach.”

“Ugh. I drank a little too much last night and got home really late. I don’t want to get on a bus and ride to this festival. I know it’ll be fun but I kinda just wanna take it easy.”

“Man, I really don’t wanna go anywhere this weekend. We don’t know these people very well and it’ll be a lot of work. I know we’ll get to be on a boat and it’ll probably be relaxing but…”

Yeah, THAT kind of lazy.

But I know this about myself, so the past 4 weekends in a row, after saying no, and grumbling with myself a little bit, I packed up my red and white striped bag, grabbed my swim-suit, or sunscreen or sandals looked at my roommate and said, “Ok, let’s go!”

And we did.

It didn’t occur to me how important this was until this last weekend though. The wind in my face and hair and the light spray of the ocean as we sped towards white sands and bluer waters beneath a sky so clear you could almost see the future, and it was good. Not ‘good’ like “oh yeah I’m good, thanks”.  I mean ‘good’ like water when you’re hiking in the desert, like standing at 13,000 feet for the sunrise, like finishing something old or starting something new.  I mean good like soul food and music that gives you chills, like laughing for no good reason. Good like friendships that can endure the silence of distance, or time or even just a walk without any words. Good.

It’s good to say ‘yes’ sometimes. It’s good to let yourself have fun and to enjoy life to the fullest. So then I guess here’s to not being lazy…at least not when it means I might get to experience something …GOOD. 

Oh, so you're gonna be a teacher...

"What are you studying?"

"English."

"Oh so you’re gonna be a teacher?"

I resented those words for the greater part of my college career. NO! I’m not going to be a teacher! I’m going to do something…something…I don’t know!...Something ELSE!

So now I have been out of college for a year and a half, and what am I doing?

I’m teaching.

And I love it.

Granted, I have only been at it for a week and a half and I haven’t faced many of the usual nightmares I’m sure to encounter in the future. But for now I’m actually making money (not a lot of it) doing the things I love: experiencing a different culture, speaking a different language, thinking about English all the time, and (yes this is a thing I love) presenting information to small groups of people on an almost daily basis.

The only thing that could make this any better would be if home were a little closer. But home (if you’ve been following me at all) is a subject all its own.

I guess this post is pretty short and sweet.

I love teaching.

I don’t know why I frowned upon it so much when I was younger but…well, people change.

So one more thing before I go: this may not be the ideal financial situation, but for once in my life, I can finally see what my dad meant when he said it is so much better to be doing something you love…Now I just have to cross my fingers (or just get my tushy in gear) and see what I can do about making this job work for me. 

Sunday at the Beach

I had decided a few summers ago that I just wasn’t a beach girl. We were in Florida, we were broke, and I missed the mountains so much I could physically feel it.

Things change though. People change, and one day you find yourself standing on a beach with your feet in the sand and the water, the sun on your face and your back, and you are in love. [*Disclaimer-my heart is still in the Rocky Mountains, but they are far and in another life so for now I will love the water.]

*****

He said we would leave at 7:30 so even though Ashley and I hardly slept we were up and ready to go almost on time. We sat together at the dining room table eating cereal, drinking coffee and talking about whatever it is people talk about over breakfast.  

We should have known better. Time is a relative thing here. I was raised to understand that when someone says a time they mean it, and you should always be early just in case. Here when someone says a time, it is probably just the first number that came to mind and you should just be ready to entertain yourself with whatever else until…whenever. It really isn’t that big a deal though. It’s sunny. It’s warm. Life is beautiful. Enjoy being lazy. You’ll eventually get there.

And we did. After a beer run, two bathroom stops, a gander at some gators from a bridge, a few terrifying turns here and there, and more than a few negotiations over what language should dominate for the day we finally made it. We trekked across the brown sand and rocks, up over a rocky land mass jutting out into water and dropped our stuff under a palm tree in paradise. White sand and blue waves called our names and within minutes we were flipping and bobbing in the clear, salty water.

And so the day went. Sandy beach to salty sea and back and forth again. By the end I was the kind of tired that just leaves you staring off into space with no desire to move or speak or think or even sleep. The sun has dried your worries, the sand has rubbed them loose, and the water has washed them away to find you on some other rainy day.

*****

I have never been much of a beach person. I’ve always been bored, and annoyed by the scratchy persistence of the sand clinging to everything it touches. But I am in Costa Rica now so I guess I’ll just say Pura Vida! 

Ok, Back to Business

I’m back. Christmas is a yellow and green blur (those are the colors of my sweat pants and hoodie I wore every day I was home). I slept. A lot. In fact if you know me at all you might choose to believe I am lying when I say I slept until 9 or 10 almost every day (and no, I didn’t stay up past midnight…except for new year’s…then I slept ‘til 10). It was relaxing. Christmas was perfect, slow, candlelit by the fire until the electricity came back on. New Years was…anticlimactic… but then really, it’s just another night isn’t it?

And so I’m back. Just 4 hours on a plane and it’s like I never left. Scorching sun, windy evenings, a not-quite-as-predictable-as-you’d-like-it-to-be bus schedule. Home? We’ll see. Friends met me at the airport. It’s always good when flying to a foreign country, to be able to say you have friends meeting you. It makes customs and baggage claim that much less painful. Even better than that though, is having a place to stay already lined up. Not only do you not have to find a taxi (Actually it’s harder to avoid them but that’s something else) but you don’t even have to find a hostel. You just meet your friends, hug them, play catch-up, and before you know it you are unloading your stuff into your temporary new room.

I have been back in the country for less than 24 hours and I have already had a job interview, met a potential private student, picked up a pay check, accepted a job at another school, gone to the grocery store and checked out (and loved) our future apartment. What a day. Now all that’ left is to just finish this blog post, make some homemade guacamole and drink a beer with Ashley and Sacha.

(So that’s it. Short and sweet. I’m back so I’ll be back to writing regularly…later ;)