I took a trip to Grecia this morning to get my INR checked (RESULT: 2.9 — excellent!) and to have a Subway sandwich with my neighbor. It was a lot of fun.

 

We rode in together (from three corners in SI) until we got to the pinnacle of Grecia proper, when I hopped off the bus to walk two blocks to Clinica Sanchez for the blood draw.

 

My neighbor stayed on the bus

 

…until he got to Central Park; then he headed to EBAIS across the street from the correo (post office) to drop off some prescriptions (which he’ll get tomorrow when we venture down again), after which he parked himself on a bench and waited ten minutes or so for me to get down the hill to where he was following my blood draw.

 

On the walk to downtown Grecia from Sanchez

 

… I stopped momentarily at Pali to buy milk, cheddar cheese, mixed fruit nectar and melocoton nectar and a few more packages of cat food.  After that I reconnected with my neighbor and we walked to Subway for half sandwiches.

 

The customer service rep accidentally put jalapeno peppers on both sandwiches, which I said was okay.  But boy howdy, they were SUPER HOT (according to my neighbor, who likes ’em hot!) so I sweated, my eyes watered, and my throat swelled a little when I ate them. I was hoarse for a little while, too, so I will be sure to avoid them from now on!  (The limonada there also tends to give me a brief hoarse voice.)

 

After leaving Subway

 

… we headed farther down the hill  to Mercado Municipal, where the bus station is. Our bus was already parked there, so I didn’t get a chance to get money out of the bank or to buy brown rice from Peri, but we’re going down again tomorrow at the same time, and I can get those then.  We also tentatively plan to visit the feria on Friday morning — which is the reason I will need more money in my wallet than is there right now.

 

We hopped off the bus in San Isidro

 

…because he wanted to buy some milk and a few other things and I wanted to get two tomatoes.  So, we did that and then wandered up the hill to his place for about fifteen minutes so I could say hello to his pup, because I will be dog-sitting her in July for two weeks, so I want to be sure she knows me well and feels entirely comfortable with me before that happens.  She let me pet her and didn’t bark a lot, so she’s warming up to me, for sure. (She’s very picky, I hear, when it comes to meeting people. She’s the anxious type.)

 

While we were sitting on my neighbor’s front porch

 

…two beautiful bluebirds came by and perched. His roses are growing like mad and looking gorgeous.  It started to rain a few minutes after we got there (although rain wasn’t forecast until 1 pm here), so I waited a little longer until it let up some and then headed back up the hill to my home.

 

All told, I’ve put in 6431 steps so far today

 

…and will do at  least that many tomorrow and Friday, too.  My knee doesn’t hurt when I walk anymore but it still swells a wee bit at night and after I’ve walked a lot. It can also ache a wee bit at times, usually at night, but not enough to require acetominophen or to keep me awake for long. It think it’s on the mend!  Sure wish I knew what I did to tweak it in the first place, though!

 

On the Way Back My Neighbor Confessed

 

…that he didn’t like me the first time he met me but — since getting to know me better — I have “grown on him.”  I asked if he remembered why he didn’t like me at first (which would be instructive to know: I’m curious like that!!!).  He said he couldn’t remember.

 

I do remember that I interacted most with his spouse, because I had been more aware of her for months before I moved down and felt a closer affinity as a result. (I usually resonate more readily with ladies than with unknown, newly-met men anyway! That’s because up until I moved here, my history of friendships or associations with men has been almost non-existent, and what little there is of it was rarely more positive than negative. The only exceptions to that rule were DeForest Kelley and a few other gentlemen whom you don’t know well enough for me to name them.)

 

So, yeah, I’m not an easy person to get to know right off the bat.  I’m reserved as hell and pretty invisible; I don’t speak unless spoken to.

 

My books bring out the real me, and this blog post does a pretty good job of revealing me — warts and all — because I’m much better on paper when I have time to think and express myself precisely than when I’m “on the fly” in day-to-day interactions!

 

As a neurodiverse individual, I’m not admirably diplomatic when it comes to interacting verbally within the parameters of routine social cues (“don’t make waves,” “don’t ruffle anyone’s feathers”, “don’t talk about politics or religion” etc.).

 

That is, I tell the truth (as I see it) in a more direct, less diplomatic way than would, for example, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, Barack Obama, or Mr. Rogers.  (They do it right: I readily admit that!) I do the best I can muster diplomatically, but fall short because I want to be precisely understood.

 

Sometimes the truth can be unpleasant, even painful

 

…but I feel it needs to be said. Walking on eggshells has never been comfortable for me.  How about you?

 

Delusional is delusional

 

That’s the right word — not an attack, not a value judgment; delusional has a precise, exact meaning —  so dancing around it without stating it is just a waste of breath, in my opinion.  Verbally, I’m more Bernie Sanders (who is also far better at diplomacy than I am!) than Pete Buttigieg or DeForest Kelley. Oh, I aspire to their degree of diplomacy and empathy/sympathy, but it remains persistently beyond my reach because I value the precision of word definitions over hand-holding and patient guidance. Sadly, in the 250 years of national existence, patient guidance and handholding haven’t gotten us very far, although it has worked well here in Costa Rica, so the malady is a national problem (thankfully!), not a global one.

 

Civilization (empathy, compassion, concern, mutual aid and assistance) does exist in other places! It would be nice to export it to the country of my birth — but I’m no longer holding my breath. I think the train to the demise of the democratic republic up north has already left the station, so I’ve come down here to experience love, peace, acceptance and the kindness of strangers (and friends!) for as long as I have left in my earthly existence.

 

It’s heavenly.

 

Anyway, it’s possible that I send lots of people screaming for the exits when they first meet me.  But those who stick around a little longer and take another chance usually find someone they didn’t really see at first, someone who wasn’t there at first, because of a lifelong belief (until more recently) that I didn’t measure up in enough ways to be worthy of anyone else’s time and attention.

 

It’s nuts, but I think a lot of people grow up feeling that way. It’s human to feel somewhat lost and alone, perhaps.  Most people just don’t admit it to anyone else…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know we first met at Rainbow Refuge, and I was pretty reserved and quiet there, which is not my usual personality. But I’m always reserved and quiet at first. I need to gauge what’s happening and who I’m with and how safe I feel before I truly turn up in a major way.

 

Guess that’s it for this time.