Days prior to beginning the move to our current house, I felt a strong urge to set intentions for what I wanted to happen during the period of six months in our next (now current) house.
I won’t share all of the intentions that I felt compelled to make. It’s possible those may be shared over time. However, I will share one that has already revealed some magical synchronicity.
Taking care of my body in a much more conscious and intentional way was something I stated to give more focus to in the coming months. I wanted to feel stronger, more fit, and flexible. Initially, what felt good was incorporating yoga back into my life.
In the first week of living here, I began my yoga practice. After a few days, I felt nudged to begin walking the (intense) hills in our area. In just this short amount of time, I already feel a difference in the experience of being in this body.
This brings me to today…
We live in a rural community that is essentially a loop connected by an adventurous and hilly dirt road. Today, we ventured to some friends’ house on the opposite side of the loop.
On our way there, we passed a small, blue SUV with flashing lights directed at us. We drove up next to the vehicle and rolled down the window. A woman with a friendly smile asked us (in Spanish) where Tres Colinas was. She had been driving for a while and wasn’t sure if she had passed it.
We told her that she still had a bit of a ways to go, but she’s going in the right direction. There was friendly back and forth. Before we drove in opposite directions, she smiled and said pura vida!
We carried on to our friends’ house where we swam and visited for a bit. Unfortunately, John had a 4:00 call that he had to return home for, and our swimming and visiting time was wrapping up quicker than we were feeling ready for.
The kids and I were going to stay behind and have John pick us up after his call. That change of plans got scrapped when John noticed that a tire that appeared low a week ago and had been filled at the time was again looking quite low.
Oh no! It was looking lower than I felt comfortable driving on over these tumultuous roads. It was also confirming a concern I’ve had about living in our more remote area – The wear and tear on our car is much more of a strain, and yet we’re so much more dependent upon our vehicle.
Being that it was a Friday at 3:45, I felt addressing the tire was a more pressing issue than continuing to visit. John and I corralled up the kids from the pool, despite protests about wanting to stay longer, and got our things together.
I went to explain our situation to our friends and thank them for having us over. Pedro offered up a resource of where we could take our car to – just down the hill from the community is the local mini super (little mom & pop grocery shop), and if I drive past that and various houses, I’d come across a llantera (tire shop).
That bit of info was very welcome. I had no idea where to go.
We got back to our house so John can get on his call, and I started down the hill to the find the llantera.
He was a lovely older man, covered (almost) head to toe in grease, that immediately began to address my tire. I told him up front that I didn’t have any cash and asked if I could come right back after visiting the ATM. He told me I could come back later (or tomorrow) to pay.
Upon removing the tire, he found the screw that was causing the leak. He removed it and patched the tire. As he was putting the tire back on, we had some interesting conversation. He told me he wouldn’t let a Tico come back to pay because they likely wouldn’t. I told him that coming back to pay later wouldn’t likely be allowed in the US. Somehow he brought up the corruption that exists within Costa Rica, suggesting it’s not something that exists within the US. I told him it’s very alive and well in the US. We laughed at our common experiences.
It turned out I had some money in my wallet after all. I paid him (plus a little extra), and headed out. I reflected on that being the nicest experience I had ever had getting anything done on my vehicle.
Instead of heading back home, I decided to continue down the mountain into town. It was after the time we usually start dinner, so I thought I’d pick up some food to bring home. Additionally, we had some items not included in our weekly food delivery that I wanted to pick up from the store.
After placing my order for our tacos and picking up our items from the grocery store, I walked back up to the road to put the picked up items into the car. As I walked up the steps, I saw a familiar face.
The woman from the small, blue SUV was there standing in front of her small, blue SUV.
“Oh, hi! Did you make it okay?”
“Yes! I made it. Thank you so much!”
We said goodbye, and I went to sit in front of the taco place to wait for the tacos. As I sat there, she walked over and offered me her business card.
“I do massages. That’s what I was going to do today when I was looking for that house.”
Me: “Oh neat! Thank you.”
It caught me off guard. I wasn’t envisioning myself getting massages, so I didn’t pursue the conversation much further. We parted ways.
As I’m driving back up the mountain, I was reflecting on the events of the afternoon. Nothing at all went as I would have expected to be normal – I didn’t even include some of the other odd details of the afternoon, such as drama over goggles and us losing my car key, something that I’ve never done before.
However, so much aligned for that card to be handed to me for the massage. We had to leave just when we did to cross paths with the small, blue SUV. Then, the tire had to be noticed just then to get me to drive down the hill at that time of day. Our food delivery had to be missing our olives and bananas, and I had to make the decision to go pick it up rather than allow them to be delivered the next day. Finally, the massage therapist, Yolanda, had to be where she was for whatever reason she was there.
Recognizing all that alignment helped me see that maybe I should just get the darn massage and not overthink or doubt it. I intended to care for my body while living here. Well, here’s the universe conspiring to help me do just that.
I’m going to book the massage. We’ll see what comes next.