If you had asked me 8 years ago to predict what our life would look like in 2019, never in my wildest dreams would I have been able to predict where we are today. A 6-month visit to Costa Rica in 2011 turned into a life in Costa Rica over the next 8 years. I have watched my kids grow up here in Tamarindo. I can still remember how little they were when we first stepped onto the beach together.
I can remember making the decision to send them to school down here and walking them to school in that dirt yard that felt so far from what we were used to. They were brave. In that moment I would have never guessed that they would eventually start to graduate from that same school a mere 7 years later. Abby specifically has spent more time in school in Costa Rica than she has in Colorado and has never spent a full year at any one school, except for TIDE. We’ve experienced so much as a family in the last 8 years that it would take a novel to even scratch the surface of the stories, feelings and moments. 8 years ago we only spoke one language and had never stepped on a surfboard.
Each and every one of us has experienced Costa Rica differently and collectively over these years. It’s been an amazing experience as a family, to say the least. We’ve embraced a new language, made incredible friends, navigated extremely uncomfortable moments, taught the kids how to drive, watched the boys become incredible surfers, started new businesses, broken arms, became teachers, learned to play instruments, seen hundreds of people we have met come and go, and we struggled, cried, laughed, evolved and grew so very much.
Now we face a new chapter as this semester at TIDE comes to a close. Ben is graduating this year and he (and Tricia!) will start a new adventure when they head off to college next Fall. This is the final week of all 5/6 of us living here in Costa Rica together. Next year it will just be the 4 of us here. It will be a major transition for us as we move forward. I will always cherish the 8 years we got to spend together here in this gritty little surf town. It’s been epic, frustrating, inspiring, challenging, enlightening, scary and 100% incredible. Here’s to Costa Rica and the next chapters in all of our adventures. We will head in two different directions next Fall, some of us to the South and some to the West, but we will always be 10 Feet in our purest form. Pura Vida.
Wow amazing! Our family is/was set to head to Tamarindo this fall. We’ve lived abroad B4 (Bali) and want to do so something together as a family as our older girls hit grade 11. Can I ask a few questions? thanks for you time
Michelw