It’s Friday and I have no plans for today other than taking a walk with my friend Cindy and three of her dogs. WOO HOO!

Who knows what I’ll do after that?

I will have the entire day to figure out something more to do, or to do nothing if nothing is all that presents itself!

MediSmart Contacted Me

…via text message yesterday about my upcoming annual renewal date. I was able to understand the message in Spanish (YAY!!!) and respond, saying (in Spanish) yes, I want to renew for myself and Charli. (Si, quiero renovacion para mi y mi gato Charli!)

So, we’re all set for the next year of coverage which will begin on Sept. 15th. It’s only $214.50 for the entire year. I easily recoup that from I discounts I get with their discount program, so it’s entirely worth the outlay.

Of course, this underscored the fact

…that my one year anniversary of being in Costa Rica is just a week away (September 4th)!  Gadzooks, that happened fast!

But for some reason, I feel like I’ve been here my entire life. Perhaps that’s because life truly did begin again for me when I landed in San Jose: new tropical environment, new friends, new culture of kindness, patience and civility.

It was all so new and yet so familiar, as if I’d been imagining it for my entire life and had finally manifested it into being!  But it was here all along!  I was simply in the wrong country!

Me Encanto Costa Rica Totalmente! 

I won’t rehash the reasons for loving (being enchanted by) Costa Rica.  You can find those in earlier posts.  It’s enough simply to say that I don’t regret taking this step into the “unknown” — even though I had researched the country so thoroughly beforehand that I knew it better than I did the United States!

But I had never set foot here until September 4th of last year, so the proof had to be in the pudding. And it was.

As I write this, it makes me tear up to know how right I was about this place. Costa Rica exceeded my expectations — and, as a total optimist, my expectations are usually pretty far off the charts!

The people, the culture, the environment, the animals and plants.  It’s as close to heaven on earth as it is possible to get, in my opinion.

Time out while I go walk with Cindy, my daily morning pleasure!

Just got back from Cindy’s

It rained some while we were walking. That’s good!  We need it. It is the rainy season, after all! Usually the rain happens in the afternoon, but we’ll take it any time we can get it. It wasn’t much, so it didn’t affect the dogs at all.  Or us humans. Cindy wears a raincoat and I carry an umbrella.

Harper, the pup, is beginning to learn how to heel

…so Cindy took her leash for a couple minutes this morning to put in a few paces under that protocol.

Cindy is amazing as a dog trainer.  She is kind, but strict. Very consistent, so the trainee understands what is expected of her or him.

I’m more of a pushover. I tend to be more lenient, which is NOT good when training dogs.  They never figure out what you want if you’re not consistent with your cues.

I carried eight bananas to Cindy this morning

…because the bunch on my back patio is about to ripen and I need to find additional homes for them. My landlady Deb took seven.  I still have about two dozen more just in this stalk on the patio.  There are two more banana trees in the orchard with enormous stalks of bananas.  I need to get them before the chachalacas do!

I keep watching for the avocados to be pickable,

…but they’re still rock hard, so it’ll be a while yet. I pulled one down and put it into a brown paper bag to see if it would ripen more than a week ago, and it still hasn’t.  So, I’m guessing maybe mid-September or October they’ll be ready.

I took close up photos of my resin parrot and toucan sculptures

…so you can see the detail better.  They’re very cool!

Here they are:

If there is a God…

I pray (spiritually) to be given a 100% Dolly Parton/DeForest Kelley/Dalai Lama heart. This doesn’t mean that I would love everyone equally, but that I would treat everyone like a beloved member of humanity during those brief (or extended) moments when I am with them.

I do try!

I try imperfectly, certainly, because of being farther from perfect than those three! I carry too much emotional baggage, too many instances of being betrayed or of feeling misunderstood or discounted (or, even worse, superfluous/invisible), even though I’m utterly transparent and almost criminally honest.

But when I’m in the presence of people who reveal to me that they are diametrically opposed to my non-religious view of morality/ethics (which is, “live and let live without imposing your values and judgments on another’s happiness or wellbeing”) I shut down and go all-but-silent, simply to make sure that I don’t encourage additional interaction.  That’s for my self-protection. I just don’t want people like that around me. 

They have their kindred spirits; I have mine!

I’m glad they have like-minded companions. I’m glad I have mine.

Life would be hell without our chosen tribes!

And maybe that’s what Dolly and DeForest realized. That we’re all in the same boat when it comes to the desire to feel seen, understood, and supported.

We all want to feel important and valued to the people we invite into our lives. And we hope to feel acknowledged and respected by everyone with whom we end up sharing any measure of time.

It isn’t complicated, but it isn’t easy, either!

How do you convey “This isn’t working for me” without making the other person feel rejected or less love-worthy?

That’s the dilemma many people find themselves in: not wanting to hurt someone, but knowing they will if they’re asked, “Why?”.

So, they find ways around it, hoping to lower the sense of rejection for the other person.

They may create a crisis or an argument which appears non-negotiable so that the severance of the relationship appears to be mutual instead of one-sided.

Or they may create a crisis as a test of the other person’s commitment to the relationship.

Neither of those work with me.

They are deal breakers, 100%.

Those kinds of tests sever the relationship completely, immediately!  As a neurodivergent person, relationship games and tests are roadblocks, not bridges, to greater intimacy with me.

Relationship tests and games are odious to me

Just tell me!

I will take it far less personally

if you just say “This isn’t working for me anymore.” 

I won’t ask for details. I’ll just say,

“Thanks for telling me. 

Fare well in all your future endeavors!”

My ego is pretty well shut down, this late in life!

I’m here for the honey and nectar, not for the bee stings and sour grapes.

Life is too short to try to snuff out other people’s insecurities or to walk on eggshells to remain in their good graces.

But I shall endeavor to treat everyone I hang with (virtually or in actuality) with greater Dolly/DeForest/Dalai Lama compassion and understanding. For sure!

Those three, just during my lifetime on earth, have showed us that we don’t need to be saints to succeed as stellar human souls. We should just remain sensitive and aware.

EMPATHY is a HUMANITY’S HIGHEST VIRTUE.

Without it, we’re sunk…and we suck!