Home is where the heart is. That is what they say. Antonio and I feel that wherever we are together, that is home. So for the past few years home has been all over this beautiful globe. But with the birth of our son, home has taken on a whole new meaning. Home has gone back to its roots. We are nesting now. And we are building our nest in Nosara, where we hope a piece of his heart will always be planted, a place where he will always call home. We have both discussed how important this kind of home is. The home where your foundation was built and fortified. Where the seed of your soul is planted. The place where, when you go really deep, you find your roots. You find your support. This home for me is in Jacksonville, Florida, where I was born and built. The family I have there, including the soul family of friends I have cherished for decades now, are still the people that I look to when I need to refresh, revive, and know myself again. Being this connected to people and a place came about for me because I remained in that place for my formative years and have continued to nurture those relationships ever since. As much as I love to travel and live in new places, I wouldn’t want to rob my son of this kind of home, where he returns to know himself again and be supported and nurtured by the friends and family that have built him. So we have chosen Nosara for this home of his. A place that is connected to the land and the sea, where the community revolves around this connection, is tied together by it and celebrates it with each sunset. A place that is natural, in every sense of the word. The restaurants serve local and organic because that’s just the natural way of doing things. And they don’t need to advertise it, because it’s just natural way of doing things. You rise early with the sun and sleep soon after it goes down because that’s just the natural way of doing things when your life revolves around the natural world outside your door. And people are fit because when you’re outside connecting to your natural world, your body just naturally becomes strong. They call it pura vida, which translated directly means pure life. It’s what this country lives by. It is one stranger’s greeting to another passing by. It is one’s response to an apology. It is one’s confirmation. It is one’s way of life. I will not be able to control much of what happens to my son as he grows and becomes a man, but this one thing I can give to him. This foundation.This seed planted in a place of beauty and wholeness. This way of life that he will always have in his heart, no matter where he goes.  And his heart will always be planted here, at home.

This is a photo we took this evening. It’s his first of many encounters with the ocean. The first seed planted of a life that lives by the sea.

Magic 123/365, First Touch, Nosara, Costa Rica, May 3, 2018