< 12 > The house and the home; mi casa

I made a promise to myself and promptly broke it. Because writing is so cathartic, I promised I'd write and publish this chapter almost 2 months ago... but I didn't and here's why:

I was busy living.

So let's go on a journey together... because it's been one heck of a wild ride!!

When we parted ways last, Mr Baby had turned 1 and we had celebrated his first Halloween! We had also connected with people interested in selling their home to us and we bought a vehicle.

Our second Christmas as a family was eventful in the way that it wasn't at all. The vehicle we'd purchased, we drove to the house we're buying and then as we headed to the beach, our AC cut out and shortly after, the hood started smoking... so we pulled into a gas station (thank you universe, for that impeccable timing!) and let it cool off - as we waited 2 hours in 40degree heat with Mako & Mr Baby, Chase was eventually able to open the hood and release the radiator cap slowly.

Turns out, some things you just can't make up... in CR they use water in the radiator because it's free; every gas station has water hoses to fill up the rad as you gas up... naturally, we had no clue. So we refill our radiator, top up the oil and that sweet purr of our engine made me cry tears of joy.

That joy was short lived.

As we hopped into our vehicle, tipped the gas station attendant and off we went, for approximately 10 minutes. The engine cut out completely and we pulled over yet again and yet again, my gratitude for my angel guides was strong, as we pulled onto the shoulder, in front of a convenience store. As I presume you don't know, I'll enlighten you: most of the roads here do not have shoulders and most towns are very far apart... so the chances of us being safe on a shoulder, in a town are astronomically small... yet, there we were. Grateful, indeed.

So we bought water, refilled the rad which was yet again, entirely empty... somehow... and Chase started the engine, only it wouldn't turn over. More than that, the hose that connects the radiator to the coolant tank had a crack in it and I watched the water I'd just paid for, jet stream out of this tiny little crack. Cue the call to our mechanic. "I'll be there in 1.5 hours."

Us, having already sat outside with a dog and a baby for 2 hours at the gas station, were not exactly thrilled to do so again, moments later, but what else could we do? Fortunately I'd packed us snacks for the beach, so we had food and waited. The mechanic came, he drove from Huacas to Liberia, which is about an hour's drive and worked on our vehicle on the side of the road. He fixed the hose, turned the car on and I yelled "STOP!" - There was water coming out of our exhaust pipe.

Our mechanic called his buddy who owns a tow truck, helped us transfer our belongings into his car and drove us home. Carlos is a very nice, generous man, who plans to return us our vehicle tomorrow, almost 2 full months later. He has repaired and replaced many parts of our motor, as well as our brakes. I understand we melted a gasket head which resulted in water and oil going through our engine, which apparently, is very bad; indeed. By the time we were on our way home, the full moon presented itself and whispered "everything happens for a reason." and on our way home, we passed the aftermath of a terrible collision and I said "That could have been us."

We spent Christmas at our condo, without a vehicle to go get groceries or

Christmas gifts, I grabbed my wool socks and filled them with items from around the house, more for me than anyone. It was Mr Baby's second Christmas, technically, but his first he was only a month old. I wanted to have memories to share with him, so I created them out of what we had available. We spent the day in our condo's pool, ate the food we had in the fridge and enjoyed some refreshments. We spent lots of time on Zoom calls with our family's which eased the homesickness that was creeping in and we enjoyed a slower paced holiday. Friends of ours invited us to a community celebration, which we happily went to. It was very nice to be around smiling faces during the holidays and they even had a present for Mr Baby! He got a xylophone he loves to make music with!

Knowing my Mom and Jordan were coming to visit, I contacted a friend of mine who had just moved to Colombia and left his vehicle here with the intent of renting it out - being that it's tourist season Nov-Feb I knew that renting a vehicle would cost an arm and a leg (more like a Kidney!) but because of our friendship, he cut us a deal. I was relieved to be able to pick my Mom & Jordan up from the airport because where our condo was, is an hour and a half from the airport!

They arrived January 14th; Chase's Birthday! Jordan's cousin, Steph, also lives in Costa Rica, but about 5 hours away, and just happened to be in Tamarindo that day, so she and her partner met up with us for dinner! It was so nice and such a blessing to be surrounded by familiar faces and celebrate my wonderful husband.

We spend that Friday evening and Saturday at our condo, loaded up the rest of our belongings and said good bye to Building 2, Unit 7 and headed to a house we would learn to call home, an hour away.

One of the most

magical parts of the journey to home-ownership, has been the reminders I see around me, that I'm where I'm meant to be.

I had come to the house to allow the cable company access to set up the internet. Mr Baby had his first nap in the new house & I went for a walk outside and came upon two Dragonflies.

I said Hello to Cory and Orv and cried happy tears.

Having my Mom and Jordan here was such a pivotal experience for me. They arrived just as we moved into a new house and helped us get set up. They were supportive, helpful, kind and amazing. We navigated this new land together and began to turn this house, into our home.

We got an above-ground pool, made many delicious meals, ventured to the beaches nearby and ate out at new restaurants. We walked around our new neighborhood and created many beautiful memories, together.

Yesterday, we said "See you later, but not soon enough." and it never gets any easier to watch a piece of my life walk away.

I'm happy they made it home safely, but sad that they're gone. It was a beautiful sense of "home" having family here, with us in this new country.

We're finalizing the sale of this beautiful property with prosperous land. We're so excited to establish roots here and feel more stable. It's been such a blessing and privilege to experience this beautiful place we now call, home.

For now, I'll allow myself to feel sad and happy, lonely and blessed.

This life is complicated and magnificent.