Two Hearts, Two Places

Two Hearts, Two Places

I will miss oversized bottle rockets exploding in the middle of the day and that no one bothers to look.  I will miss Kenny Rogers, the dog two doors down who howls out of tune every time an ambulance passes. 

Kenny Rogers

I'll miss biking everywhere. I'll miss sidewalks with paw prints and shoe prints and bike tire tracks that memorialize the day the concrete went in. 


Cow prints on this one 

I will miss people leading cows, waiting for a green light at the crosswalk.  I'll miss sheep nibbling grass in the park.



I will miss dogs wandering through the always-open doors of the market.  I'll miss Rasta-Dog.

Rasta-Dog

I'll miss the flamboyance: cheetah-print shoes, sparkles, pyramids of flowers,



plastic Virgin Marys behind glass doors in small huts built all over town.



I'll miss the bus drivers who cross themselves every time they pass one of these huts.  Also signs like this:

Notice that the baby Jesus is wearing a pink robe.  I'm not sure what's on his head.


I'll miss raggaeton (doo... dahdoo, dah, doo...) drumming the city into submission.  I'll miss mis-matched colors, and men in well-matched pink velvet warmups. 

Available at Fashion Nova

I'll miss the awkward cheek to cheek, kiss-sound-in-your-ear greetings with strangers (sort of) and extreme well-wishing goodbyes (also sort of).  I will miss spring mornings every morning, constant bird chirping, constant flowers 



and the hummingbirds that visit them.  



I will miss the paintings and murals and drawings and sculptures. 

This is a new one

I will miss passion fruit, papaya, granadia, plantains, pineapple, coconut drinks, limes 30 for a dollar, avocados, mangos. 




I will miss the feeling of safety that comes with the knowledge that almost nobody has a gun they can pull on me.  And I will miss bull dogs wearing fleece coats on 65 degree mornings.

I realize that three of the things that I'm going to miss are related to dogs.

I look forward to going cashless, but I'll miss carrying one and half-dollar coins in my fifth pocket. I look forward to food that I've forgotten about but love.  I'll miss the food I've gotten used to and now take for granted.  I look forward to more organization and forethought.  I'll miss the improvisation and spontaneity.   I'll miss that we don't have to plan out lunch because where we're going, there's always a place that serves it.   I look forward to the freedom of driving but will miss our freedom from driving.  I can't wait to see friends and family but I don't dare hope for that moment to come soon because that will mean my time here is over.  My heart's in two places.


I look forward to anonymity.  I will not miss the stares.  I am, however, grateful for our modeling trip to Yunguilla which happened because apparently we look "like a Disney family."  


If that family vacations here, you should too!

I'm looking forward to/am intimidated about our drive from Denver to Anchorage.  I'm relieved/sad that we'll use English to communicate once we set foot on US soil.  I'm excited/sorrowful because I feel done/not done here.  I could say that I'm torn but the truth is that I'm two.  I have two hearts: one for here and one for there.  Will we return?  Probably.  But it won't be the same: eight-year-old Robin will be older and may not be on stage with her beloved gymnastics troup.



  

Suzie said that in an alternate universe, we stay here and live as Ecuadorians.  It's nice to think of that other choice, where we still walk to ice cream and pizza,




the bakery, the gym, the corner store to exchange empty beer bottles for full ones and where the owner calls me "veci" short for vecino (neighbor).  I like to imagine our parallel family ambling to the river trail and to Robin's school and to the fruit stand and to the plant store; Sam and Locke playing soccer; roosters calling out all day long.  And I imagine that I will imagine this other world as I ski to the neighborhood lake in Alaska with my dog, or as the wheels of my bike squeak on the snow.  I'll think about Ecuadorian friends we've made while finally spending much coveted time with the American friends we left.


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