Pieces of my heart
I am a traveler….maybe even possibly a gypsy. There have been very few places that I have ever been to where I haven’t arrived and made the decision that “I COULD LIVE HERE”. I seem to very quickly get attached and I always manage to leave a piece of my heart wherever I go. I always wonder if other people do this. My daughter is another one who “struggles” with this infliction.
There is one place on this entire planet that has multiple pieces of my heart. Some of them are small pieces but others of them are big, so big that sometimes, when I leave, I feel like at least half of my heart might very well be living outside my body and will wait there for me to return.
What is this place and how did this all start?? Let me begin to tell you the story.
On October 22, 2010 I flew from Roanoke, VA to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
I knew absolutely nothing about this place that I was going to, other than I could get there on air miles, I was staying at an all inclusive resort (important as I was traveling to this place for the first time by myself), the weather was predicted to be wonderful and I was going to be able to scuba dive.
I was in desperate need of some time for myself. I had 3 children, ages almost 9, just turned 7 and just turned 5 AND I had been separated from my husband for 42 days.
The life that I had known for the past 10 years was upside down and I was STRUGGLING. So, I made a decision to take a trip. I wasn’t running away….I needed some space to breathe and collect my thoughts.
Little did I know that this trip would completely alter the course of my life.
I went scuba diving for the first time in more than 10 years on October 24, 2010. I had forgotten the feeling that comes with diving. Hearing the sound of your own breathing, fast at first and then slowing as you allow the water to hold you and your eyes see so many wonderful things. Hours passed as quickly as minutes.
Calmness. Peaceful. Healing. In that moment, that was exactly what I needed.
After an amazing diving experience, I was invited to go for lunch.
So. Much. Fun.
Good food. Fun Company. Drinks. Music. Sun. I could not have asked for more.
I laughed and danced, drank and ate, shared stories and pictures with people I did not know. With people who spoke a language I could not understand (that would change) but that I could listen to all day. With people who had completely different life experiences than mine and I was intrigued and enamored.
This one day opened the door to new experiences, new food, new friends, a new language, new sports, new dreams, new ideas….new, new and more NEW.
I spent the next 7 days absorbing all the new, wondering how to fit it all in to my life and when I could get back to experience more because I knew immediately that Cabo San Lucas had taken a piece of my heart, a bigger piece than most other places had.
Over the past 12 years, my heart has become bigger because of Cabo, even though I leave another piece of it each time. It has played such a big part throughout a difficult decade in my life, it only made sense that I share it at the beginning of this new journey and this new decade. I have so many things I could share with you and over time, I will.
Cabo has become home away from home. Cabo is where my “sisters” and “brothers” live. Cabo is where I have experienced so much joy and laughter, personal growth and gained personal peace. My kids have been able to travel there with me and meet those people they call “Tia” and “Tio”. Cabo is also a place that has made me stand face to face with heartache, called me to get real personally and professionally and reminded me of what and who are truly important.
Cabo San Lucas has both given and taken, made me laugh and made me cry, made me both dread and desire leaving but always made me look forward to when I could return.
I suppose that is what you should expect from a place where you have left a trail of pieces of your heart….with no intent to ever pick them all up and put them back in “place”.
Mi corazon esta en Cabo, siempre.