Perspective: The Gift That Keeps Giving

I think I now understand why everybody said, "Puerto Rico?  Really??" (insert bewildered grimace here)

El Morro, San Juan

When we shared our relocation news I was so thrilled, and would have flapped my wings and flown here myself if necessary.  It was winter in Wisconsin, Governor Walker had recently turned the state (and city) I loved upside-down, and our family had recently gone through the surreal hell of being media fodder.  I wanted to go.  I needed to go.  Samuel was 4 years short of 14, and I knew our window to expose the kids to an international setting was closing.  Fast.

We've been here for  five months now, and there's so much to tell, I can't dig a single thing out of my experience folder to share.  What I can tell you, is that it has been hard.  Harder than I thought.  "Um, duh" you might be thinking. But I wasn't thinking about the hardness, or long-ness of this little adventure last winter.   When I think of two years from my past, it is a blink of an eye;  a mere 24 indistinguishable months.  I wasn't thinking about how I have to sit in a tiny doctor's office for three hours waiting to get Samuel's in-grown toenail checked.  I wasn't thinking about how a normal wait in line at the Banco Popular is routinely 30-40 minutes.  I didn't know that Walgreens here doesn't accept a prescription renewal over the phone from the States, and that I can't speak Spanish enough to straighten the whole mess out.  I didn't know that our water bill last month would be $500.  Yes, you read it right, and no, we don't know why, and neither does anybody else.

What I do know is that it makes me appreciate what I have that is the opposite of hard.  I have really cool friends back home, and really cool friends here.  My dad loves me whether I'm here or there.  It is sunny every day, and now the temperature is lovely and cool at night.  I love that people come running from everywhere when Robinson tips over in his stroller at the grocery store (he stood up on the seat), and that the janitor at the school gave me a taste of  homemade hootch at the school party.  I love that one evening soon I may see the 'green flash' at sunset, and that people I've just met kiss my cheek upon introduction, and every time they see me after that.

Perspective is an amazing gift.
Merry Christmas.