Soggy Loops

Yesterday there was an art festival in Monteverde. Visual art, jewelry making, fabric products and live music. The first music I heard was a saxophone and bagpipe duet playing “Amazing Grace”. The man on the bagpipes is the father of one of my 4th graders. I looked around – I knew almost everyone. This is a small community. After the bagpipes and saxophone there was Appalachian music (banjo, recorder and viola), then folk, then beautiful, sweet, gentle, rich Spanish vocals and guitar from a man named Don Eduardo. I was transfixed. He was like a dream. He looked and sounded and felt magical. His voice was honey. I sat. I stared. I was amazed.

But in the moment I was acutely aware that the experience was lacking. I was sitting by myself on a cement block in the mountains of Costa Rica aching to share the experience with someone I love. Anyone I love. There are so many people that I love and with whom I wanted to share that moment. I thought of my first 2 ½ weeks in Costa Rica with Noelle and how special that time was for me because we were creating something. We were building on our relationship, adding to it, making it stronger. Listening to Don Eduardo by myself on a soggy afternoon, I was not building anything. I was sewing with a needle and thread but no cloth, making empty loops of string in the damp air.