I would like to know how many people the average person befriends on vacation. My 'winter' excursion consisted of approximately 12 Italians. Six of which are now my Facebook friends and two I chat with almost every day via MSN. Lordy.
Let's evaluate the friend making process on my latest trip. Hour number 1ish at FLL airport (aka Ft. Lauderdale to non-exflightattendants) I met Lucas (ATV guide from Costa Rica, just found out he is going to be a dad, home for a few months to work in the States....what else would you like to know?) and Kim (sales manager in Chicago, traveling to see her boyfriend (he's from Colorado and is a fly-fisherman (soooooo not Kim's type)) in Costa Rica (they met while teaching at an orphanage and he stayed in CR). Hour 1.5ish we're all friends on Facebook and sharing beers and waffle fries. So you get my drift.
Perhaps if I could acknowledge one special gift I possess, it would be embracing people. I have a way with most peeps and somehow ignite a spark within them whether it's a smile or a conversation. I seem to have the gift of charming (or dragging) every little tiny detail from birth to the moment we are sharing a beer. I love to listen to their stories....their fears, dreams, favorite restaurants, and why HE.IS.SOOOOOO.NOT.HER.TYPE.BUT.SHE'S.GOING.ANYWAY. You can learn so much about this life by simply carrying on a conversation, a real life talking conversation, with another human being.
Which brings me to the next story of friendship in Honduras. Richie. My angel Richie. Richie hopped in the back of the pickup with us on our way to the airport. He's thirteen, giraffeish like me and an incredibly special boy. He has 2 brothers and 14 sisters, God rest his soul. Richie helped us with our bags and even hung around waiting for us to clear security. As he strolled through the airport, several of the locals nodded or said Hola Richie making it quite obvious he spends a lot of time taking tips for helping bratty tourists like us with their bags. We watched him devour a hot dog and I asked him what he likes to do for fun. Richie likes school and kickball and his siblings. He said he would take the money he earned today and buy beans and rice for his family.
Richie has not really left my mind since Sunday. He is a 13 year old boy living in a tiny tiny hut in South America with not much more than 17 mouths to feed and mismatched flip flops but he is happy. TRULY HAPPY. SIMPLY HAPPY. Happy to help us, happy to be a kid, happy to sit and visit over a hot dog. It is this person that I truly love the most and long to know on a deeper level. Although challenged, he has endured 13 years of hardship and carries a smile straight from Heaven. Angels. Angels sent here to remind of us our rich and abundant lives. Simple people who remind you life is not about all of the junk. It's not about new bedding from Pottery Barn or flat screens or LV handbags. And how a good 'decluttering' might be good for us all. Richie in his own simple way made a difference in my life this weekend. His light will shine into a window of my heart. Somehow, I am certain we will meet again and hopefully I can give as he has given to me.
As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. ~Henry David Thoreau
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