Time is a strange element in mortality. Most weeks fly by without a second thought. When I consider that Aaron and Tanner left for Costa Rica just over a week ago, it feels like time has been standing still (sort of). And yet, a whole lot has happened in the past 8 days!
We have been able to communicate via what's app and have skyped a few times. Both are alive and doing well. Aaron is literally in the air as I type this. Tanner is hanging out in a hotel room by himself until his taxi pick-up comes to take him to the bus station tomorrow morning. He will spend the next two weeks working on a community development project in El Silencio which is a remote mountain village about 3-4 hours away from San Jose. Internet/communication will be more limited but Tanner has been told he will be able to text from the 'town square' so I'll be looking forward to his updates.
Mostly, Aaron worked from a hotel room during the week. He also met with an impressive South American business leader in the home care industry and has been busy working on various projects. Aaron did squeeze in a 'fun day' and toured a volcano. Alas, the 3-4 hour ride back to San Jose in a rickety old bus through night time fog was an adventure.
Meanwhile, Tanner had a week full of his own adventures. He learned how to navigate a semi-chaotic public transportation system in getting himself to and from school each day. He had a lot of practice with the currency/exchange rates and buying food. He ate lots of rice and beans and discovered that fruit juice = tea (not herbal) in Costa Rica. Though kind, he found out his host family does not speak an ounce of English. He was invited to go get a beer, take a smoke (break), visit a club and spend the weekend with a few Europeans. And he graduated from his crash course in Spanish at CRLA on Thursday.
Tanner will forever be grateful Aaron arranged his schedule so they could spend Friday and Saturday together. They checked out a beautiful beach and took turns boogie-boarding (for security purposes) before their crazy drive back to San Jose (several hours away). The downloaded map app failed them big time. Just hearing the description of their steep, mountainous journey on a single lane dirt road (if you could call it a road) was scary enough for me! Finally, after a prayer and a multi-point turnaround be came possible, they eventually made it back to the safety of their hotel room. I can't wait to hear more of their adventures...
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| Besides the truck, our Yukon has least amount of miles on it. Turned over 125,000 this week. |
Our week here at home wasn't nearly as scary - except for the time I spent at the dental office. Nobody wants feedback that they need two crowns and have cavities at my age! I pretty much wanted to cry since I brush and floss multiple times a day. Guess I have a few things to look forward to - not.
I think we have had at least one car in the shop every week since 2016 began. Not exactly the way you want to start out a new year. This week I made two trips for auto work. The first was a simple oil & lube and replaced a headlight (Yukon) that has been out (last week the windshield HAD to be replaced). While in the waiting room, I struck up a conversation with another lady who was having her car detailed. She shared the most amazing story with me about how one of her co-workers (nurse at the hospital) signed the title over and literally gave her a car - on the spot. The lady in the waiting room was emotional (tears of gratitude) as she shared more about this experience. Talk about a random act of kindness that doesn't happen every day! My 2nd trip for auto work wasn't as thrilling and was 6x's the cost. Since the major work done in January, the Subaru has been back in twice for additional repairs. This auto better be good to go now!
We have adjusted to 6:00am basketball practices on Tuesday/Thursday. It's been our year-round normal routine around here for a few years now. Coach added a Wednesday 6:00am practice into the mix in preparation for the boys' final tournament but with Aaron out of town, that threw off our regular schedule a bit. So did the Thursday night games played over an hour away. I left Brinley in charge at home because Jantzen and I didn't get home until after 11:00pm on a school night.
Jantzen loves basketball. Even with all of the ups and downs.
His final game of this season was played on Saturday afternoon. In overtime, they pulled off a 45-42 win over a Snake River team. Tominaga's grandson played for the opposing team so it was fun to visit with Joann for a few minutes.
This isn't the age when boys want to line up for a photo so I did my best from the bleachers.
Overall, it's been a good season.
Ahh, now we can turn our full attention to soccer as their first tournament is around the corner...
1 comment:
My thoughts were with you with Aaron and Tanner sooo far away. You keep a pretty crazy schedule up there.
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