Tico Tuesday, October 5th

Happy Tuesday to you all! Isn't Tuesday a great day of the week? I just finished reading “Tuesdays with Morrie,” and enjoyed it a lot, even though I don't agree with everything Morrie thought. But, I'll admit, I'm a Tuesday girl too: IV always met on Tuesdays, now I have Tico Tuesdays, Tuesday is just a great day! Anyway, next Tuesday is going to be a very sad day for me- Tía is going to leave us! I'm going to miss her dreadfully. She has been a wonderful blessing to me- listening to me, counseling me and I have learned so much from her. And we love singing together! She sings in Spanish most of the time, and if I don't know the song or hymn in Spanish I'll sing it in English and throw in the harmony if I know it. It's so fun! Tía made a huge sacrifice to be here in Costa Rica to take care of Abuelita. Her husband and 4 mostly-grown kids are still in New Jersey and have been without her a whole year now. So, it will be great for her to go back. I'm going to have to visit her when I go to the States!

I'll post on my blog the story of her going away party!

God bless you this Tuesday and every day!

Carrie

Friday night we threw Tía a surprise going away party. At least, I think it was a surprise. She was making dinner, so I don't think she expected anything. We invited everyone we could think of here who had the opportunity to get to know her. A lot of our friends from church came, since they tend to spend a lot of time at our house, but some adults came too. Considering how little Tía had been able to get out, she made a big impression on a lot of people! She is a very admirable woman of God!

I put on my pretty dress that I wore at the family for Tía since she is always telling me to dress up more and show off my legs. Jajaja! She and I have had a lot of fun together.

Most of the time of the party was spent talking. We gave everyone the chance to talk to her and thank her, tell her what we learned from her, what we appreciate about her, etc. Then she responded to each person, also saying what she appreciated and learned from us, etc, etc, etc. It was a really sweet beautiful time. There was a lot of confession and forgiveness going on-- Tía admitted to sometimes being hard on others because she was so concerned about Abuelita. It was a lovely thing to see people be so humble and honest. It was a most edifying time! It reminded me a little bit of the “living funeral” Morrie had for himself before he died (referring back to the book I mentioned above). It's much nicer to talk about things and tell people how much they mean to you and get out of the way anything that stressed, upset or hurt you when they are there to listen to you, instead of only wishing it to their grave after they're gone.

My friend Jorgito knelt when he talked to Tía and then he sang to her. Many tears were shed, especially by yours truly. Other guys tried to be macho and kept themselves from crying. Afterwards we sang and it was just a delightful time. I'll try to get the rest of the pics on facebook soon.

In the meantime, make the most of life and let others know how much they mean to you! Life is a fleeting breath!