Becoming the Change

A few of you may have read that I stupidly lost my phone in an Uber a few days ago
In between trying to distract my child with multiple objects and him being a hot mess,
He threw it under the seat and by the time we arrived, we all just wanted out.
I had recovered a number of other objects from the car so I just automatically didn't worry.
Then, a few hours later, went searching for my phone to order an uber home and bam.

A little mad at Pablo but more mad at myself for letting it happen.  I let it simmer on Friday night.
On Saturday morning woke up, willing to just let it go.  Two dear friends immediately reached out via my facebook post to let me borrow their phones while I waited for another to be delivered or what may come.  I really didn't think of it at all until I got an email that sent the driver's number and that he had found it.  I had Andres use his phone to send a few messages and call but no response. 

To be honest, I was okay with it.  The situation in Argentina is very fragile right now.  The currency is devalued almost every week and over the last 9 months we have lived here, it's gone from 25 to nearly 45 pesos to the dollar.  This makes life hard for anyone who is paid in pesos with a country that with the exception of alcohol and food, is particularly dependent on imports.   I realized that there was a very good chance that this driver might have needed the money from the phone to feed his family more than I did.  I was ready to let it go.

When eating lunch at the Olivos food trucks, Andres went to get something to eat and was gone longer than usual.  I saw him receiving a call.  As he walked up with food and drinks in his hand, he declared "Your phone has been found. The guy will bring it tomorrow."  Wow.  I thought, miracles do happen, but once again, was reluctant to believe that the issue was solved.  We both agreed to give him a reward of about 2000 pesos/ $50, not much but a good sum here and we thought it was a fair and not overly boisterous reward.

This morning, the man arrived around 10 am and we took the money out to him.  He did not want to take the reward but he asked us for another favor.  Wow.  I was blown away.  So he didn't take the money, but what he did was more proactive and better than anything I could have imagined.   "Here is my resume, here's my experience (listing his experience). More than anything I need better work." 

In a world where there is a lot of pain and a lot of greed and a lot of nonsense, this man's kindness and gumption moved me.  I am really hoping that somehow we can help find him more consistent work.  He does truly embody Gandhi's "We must become the change we wish to see."

#Sol19 #finalslice #buenosaires #argentina #bethechange

ABCs of Me

Anxious
Ballsy
Curious
Dancer
Energetic
Foodie
Grateful
Hypochondriacal
Intelligent
Juicy
Kissaholic
Loving
Mother
Natural
Organizer
Perseverant
Quirky
Runner
Shaker
Traveler
Underwater lover
Valiant
Wondering
Xi
Young at Heart
Zealous

Lost phone drama

On the way to a friend's house tonight.
Pablo being the usual tyrant he is in the car.
He sits down and I try to distract him with his stuffed monkey, Ramona la mona.
That doesn't work. So I reluctantly give him my phone.

2 hours later as we are about to leave the friend's house,
We realize the phone is amiss.

Find my Iphone, google searching later.
It's gone. The phone is gone.

It's just plastic but I live in Argentina
A country where the exchange rate is volatile
And phones are the last things on people's minds
Who want to feed their families.

So I sit and am frustrated and have high hopes in humanity
That the Uber driver will mysteriously appear and return it.

Nonetheless, I have deleted, erased, reported lost.
I will probably never see it again.
It's okay, it's just a little glass, metal, plastic.
I am on top of things.  My photos are backed up.

It's the frustration of being somewhere where
people are in extreme need, which I have to respect and understand
and not take for granted.

It's the frustration of not being able to comfort or console my wildly, wiry son
On short car rides and so I succomb to abnormal patterns.

It's the frustration of knowing a good chunk of my weekend is now going to go
towards sorting this out.

A Slice from Another Time

One fine day in Koh Phangan, Thailand, while hanging out with my newly made 20 something Malay artist friends.  We decided to go to a secret beach. 

"If you just follow the coast, you will end up somewhere that is untouched, precious, paradise." the locals told us. 

And so we walked along giant elephant grey rocks which lined the Southeastern shore.  

We walked nomadically without a plan, without much water.
It was mid-day, we were sober, we were fine but then we reached a point. 

The point came where we had to jump between two rocks, less than a meter but over a rocky crevice that you had to fight looking down at.  One wrong move and you could be tumbling down the rocks and end up with a bloody body in the sea. 

Riz and Lionel looked skeptical. They stood pensively, examining the options.  "Paradise beach" Or "Our simple lives."  

Long legged me looked at the cliff and initially leaned against the wall, sending some gravel tumbling.  While that's not going to work.  I thought. 

So then, I laid my body in the trusting hands of the earth and basically starfished against the rocky wall, and spread my legs between the two big rocks while sticking my tentacles to the wall and not looking down. 

I had made it, with no great pain or effort. 

The boys looked at one another.  I wanted to continue.  They weren't going to let 22 year old me beaver off into the jungle searching for paradise beaches. 

Rizan decided he would make the jump and made it, but with a couple of rocks tumbling into the sea. 

The other two said "No thanks. We'll see you later."

So we walked on, and within 20 minutes had arrived at a deserted beach.  Besides the grey skies, everything about this place was perfect.  Coconuts lining the shore, palm trees draped over us, and warm water to dip our feet in. 

New friends, we chatted about everything.  While all that ran through the back of my romantic 20 something head was, I wish this wasn't so platonic.  Where is my lover that I am supposed to experience this moment with?  

And so the moment passed, but still is one I will forever hold onto.  

I have been lucky enough since then to end up on equally exotic beaches with lovers and bask in the moment but for that slice of my life, it was just natural beauty and the start of a beautiful friendship that still smiles after nearly 20 years. 

Late Night Visit

Long day.  Tears nearly shed and then joy erupted.  It's March and the seasons are changing and my how you can feel the energy of the earth creeping up your limbs and permeating every cell.

I got home to my hungry Spanish husband, eating his dinner at 9 pm.  A work dinner, with colleagues but enveloping emotions, family chats, professional journeys, hiccups and room for possibility, I too was enriched but exhausted. And, by 9:45 pm we were ready to lay down and crash.  Then all of the sudden, I saw my computer "Damn it!" I screeched.  "I need to blog."

I grabbed my computer. Settled into bed, not ideal.  I try to keep the computer out of bed but I couldn't help it.  My mind was fixated on a horizontal position.  I open my laptop and Pablo starts spurting out noises.  Having not seen him all day, I leap to the occasion.  I want a part of his life, best and worst.  

I go to his room and turn on the light.  He is upright, on a deep search for his bottle.  He finds it, and then realizes I am around, points to books, puzzles, games.  I try to stifle and distract with a diaper change.  He's still pointing at puzzles. I then realize the persiana is open "See Pablo, it's dark outside.  We need to go to sleep." He totally wins this battle.  I read Peedie, then, Stuck, then finally, The Going to Bed Book, and one last winner, constantly lowering the tone in my voice: Goodnight Moon.

"The day is done, I am saying good night and turning off the bedside light.  The moon is high, the stars are deep.  Let's rock and rock and rock to sleep." Sandra Boynton

Magical Chat

A fire floats between us
The conversation spiraling around
us
Engulfing our hearts
Uplifting our minds
We get lost in one another

Words spit out like popcorn from a jiffy pop
Ideas boil over like a hot spring on a cliff

Our energy is one
And we lift off
Soaring to new places

Fueling desires
We shoot up to the galaxy
Surrounded by starry love
And back down to our
Backyard cuddled by the warmth
Our spark is producing.

A Booster Shot!

Met with our new headmaster today who will start in July 2019. 
For an hour, she listened, she added ideas.
She was humble, sweet, bold and vulnerable.
She was curious, caring and so insightful after her few days here.

But the other energizing thing was having this little French-Canadian Filipina woman
who was thoroughly about women empowerment
shoot me with an injection of hope.

All these years later, I had only one other female head of school,
who was powerful in many ways and inspiring in others,
a fantastic public speaker and event host
but whose listening skills fell flat
because she couldn't get that personal touch
that made you know she was talking just to you.

It's a good time with the slice of life challenge, sickness coming on, and only 2.5 more months of school left to get a booster shot.