Costa Rica, Pura Vida! | Day 1
Saturday, February 1, 2020
I’m sitting in the coziest corner booth of Peet’s Coffee shop in the Houston airport for my layover from Austin. In just a few hours, I’ll be meeting up with my college friend Naomi Reeh in San Jose, Costa Rica! Funny enough, the last time I saw her, we were lost in an airport in Rome, both of us there for Benedictine College’s study abroad program.
As my fellow aircraft occupants and I drifted like sea creatures through cloudless skies above the minuscule model of Austin, Texas, I mused at what a wonderful life I live. So many amazing experiences I’ve had over the years have been like this—an unexpected, un-sought-after opportunity that I seized: all gift, all blessings, all free. Austin City Limits last year, for example; and now this, Costa Rica! A country I wouldn’t have picked out of all the destinations I could visit in the world, but a place I am so eager to see with my own eyes now that I’ve been given this opportunity.
I wonder what Grandpa thinks of my adventures. The older I get, the more I see him in myself—that adventurous, fretful, deep-thinking, playful countenance, completely overwhelmed with love for this beautiful life. I hope he can see me now. He travels with me in my heart.
