Reason #2

My dad for a large part of his life was involved with racing.  He worked at a machine shop that built racing motors.  Drag racing motors.  Or stock car.  I can't really remember.  We went to the races often in my younger years.   Racing is fun.  Stick shifts are fun.  Motorcycles are fun.  Dirt bikes are AWESOME!!! These things all lead me to reason # 2.

I love driving in Puerto Rico!!!

Driving here is a very fluid, flexible thing.  Roads are good.  If there is no road, one can easily be made.  Oops, I missed my turn.  No problem, I'll just back up!  Pulling out onto a busy highway is a dance between you and the rest of the people.  Give and take.  My turn, your turn.  If you don't make your needs known, they will be ignored!  Need to stop and chat with your neighbor for a few minutes? No problem, I can wait.  If I can't wait, I can always make a new road! There are often cows, horses or people picking mangoes off of the mango trees in the middle of the road.  Patience is a very good thing. Generosity is also good, and I find usually practiced. This of course is not always the case.  During rush hour to and from work or school things can get a bit dicey.  But if someone is too impatient and honks at you from behind, just slap the top of your car to let them know they are free drive over you if they need to.

Our Eli

We know when Eli is sick.  She becomes calm and quiet.  It is a very obvious change from her normal state of constant motion which includes things like somersaults in bed while "snuggling", watching movies upside down and dancing instead of walking somewhere.

This way of living life to the fullest is also reflected in her artistic endeavors.  Ever since she was little, she didn't just paint a picture on paper.  It was a full body experience. 

She hasn't changed much since she's gotten older.  She has however branched out to other "canvases".

If you happen to be visiting when inspiration strikes her, don't be surprised if you become part of the masterpiece!

He's home.

In the past few years, Jon has had to travel three or four times each year to the States. Usually those trips are from five to seven days. We are always fine while he is gone. Fine meaning able to get through the day to day routine of life without needing any help. Benjamin and I together can even handle the super heavy and amazed bags of trash. We eat. We play. We learn. We have fun. We even sleep, mostly crowded together in the same bed, but we sleep. We can do life on our own. We don't need him to do life with us. But without him, there are several things missing daddy's good morning hugs, his silly and slightly insane laughter, kissy slams, wrestling matches, and a sense of wholeness that all of us together creates. We may not need him, but we want him.

He just got back from one of those trips. It was twelve days long. Much too long. By the second day, Logan was marking out all of the days left on the calendar hoping that real life would follow his commands, and daddy would come back tomorrow. The first night he was home again I could feel the difference. It's as if we had all been holding our breath without even knowing it,and we finally were able to let it out. The bed was really crowded that night as one by one the kids snuck in to be together.

A hint of dead iguana!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. We've had two retreats, a sick doggy that almost died and needed to be nursed back to health, a ballet show to get ready for, a friend and her three year old staying for a week and a husband getting ready to leave for a twelve day trip.

Needless to say, the house looked like someone had picked it up, shaken it all around and then sat it down again. Disaster zone.

I usually don't enjoy housework, weird I know, but today It was kind of nice to not go anywhere and get the house back in shape. Actually, we all cleaned. Eli and Logan cleaned their rooms, Ben cleaned the toilets, I cleaned the back porch....taking a break once to bury a dead and very smelly iguana...washed the dishes, and swept all of the floors.

I know that tomorrow the floors will get dirty again ( the joy of living on the ocean), and the dishes will need washed again, but for now the house is clean. *sigh* we lit candles too, so it smells like vanilla with just a hint of dead iguana!