Most mornings on our trip to Costa Rica a monkey awakens me. The primate I hear is not the screeching of a howler monkey mind you, willfully I sleep through the sounds of those, the loudest land animals, each dawn. A 3-½ year old curled in my arms wakes me with whispers to set out to go to the beach and romp in the waves at nearly past 6am. We began this schedule each trip to Nosara, 4x now since she was born, and it is a precious time for both of us. There is solitude and unity in those precious few minutes alone when neither individual feels the overwhelming need to communicate in words while winding down the path to the sand.
Now that she is old enough to comprehend, when we reach the shoreline and gaze into the waves as the sun is rising and share moments of gratitude. I lead the words of the new day with something simple such as “Gracias, gracias, gracias for ……” or “Thank you for all our blessings and our gifts”. The words reverberate in the little spirit next to me who sometimes repeats verbatim but mostly adds her own thoughts as the novel daylight reaches forward. Of all the times we have recited this simple sign of gratefulness to the universe she, amazingly for a child, never adds anything trite and senses the significance in her earnest terms.
We stand with the waves rushing towards our toes and steer to move deeper to get thigh high for my counterpart. Now no longer a novice in the waves, there is an ease that she now places on her approach. Her awareness of the breaks is present but with care and ease and barely a pause in her reactions she assesses each with split second pronouncements. The unfettered mind of a child: Jump the wave? Set and take the wave as it is? Ride it, swimming in? Or if needed reach for a hand to assist.
Ah, the bliss of clarity in gauging the moment as it comes lucidly. Along with it comes a lesson for us all, to perceive in transparency without allowing the measure of our own thoughts and emotions to crash upon us with each swell – Seeing each surge as an opportunity as opposed to a challenge.
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. – John F. Kennedy
Our small token we left in Nosara was a tree we planted with the Harmony Hotel’s “Plant a Tree” program to compensate for the hotel’s carbon emissions during our stay.
**The Harmony Hotel maintains a five-leaf rating from Costa Rica’s prestigious Certificate for Sustainable Tourism (CST).
Living Wherever We Are 