Jamie Brown is in town!

There is no better salve for the soul than reconnecting with a best friend.  Sitting on the couch, talking about our lives, the ease and comfort of being with someone who knows and accepts you.  One of my very best friends, Jamie Brown visited us in Oaxaca for a week.  Over the past year she has come to our rescue, running interference with disgruntled neighbors, keeping an eye on our landscaping, loaning us money when unexpected tax bills arrived.  Talking to her via FB Messenger over WiFi kept me sane over the past year when serious waves of loneliness swept my experience.  She listened to our stories about travel from far away lands and read our blog avidly.

Over the past week we have blackened our feet while exploring the city, visiting markets outside of town, shopped for hand-woven textiles and sipped Tejate from hollowed out gourds painted red.  I have shown her the city of Oaxaca and she understands why we love it so.

When we return to Portland in just over two weeks, she is providing a soft landing, allowing us to stay with her until the Sabbatical home that we are renting is available in September.  She is the one that gives me career advice, edits my cover letters and showers me with confidence when I waver in self-doubt.  While we traveled the world this past year, she also created a new reality for herself, divorcing after many years of marriage.  She navigated the open water of a new beginning by herself.  She has leapt into the unknown and has applied herself fearlessly to the task of finding out what makes her and her boys whole.  I watch and listen in awe as she walks forth with her head held high and eyes clear.  Such courage is to be admired.

I believe that we surround ourselves and are drawn towards others that possess characteristics that we lack and aspire to have.  I value this mirror in reverse.  It is the loving education that the universe strives to provide and we need only pay attention and enjoy the instructive light shown by others.  Thank you Jamie for being our rock this past year and I hope to know you until we are old and wrinkly.