Years ago I realized that most things are universal the only difference is the language. A few weeks ago I asked Silvia if she knew what Murphy’s Law was. She gave me a strange look. Of course, she knew! Men from Mars know that what can go wrong will go wrong. Why else would they have a Red Planet?

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One week before we were to leave Costa Rica Silvia was notified that she was to become a U.S. citizen two days after we were supposed to be in Costa Rica. The letter said she was not allowed to leave the country. This was literally a command performance at the courthouse on August 26, please dress appropriately.

Of course the airline could care less when we called to request a ticket change. No es problema, $592 mas por favor! Considering that it was $592 more to change my ticket I decided to get out while the getting was good.

In spite of the fact that we started one month ago we had to press to the last minute to finish. Silvia had made a great suggestion of taking the household and personal things to Seattle two days before I was to fly to Baltimore to see my kids and grandchildren.

We came to the U.S. 4½ years ago with little more than two cats and the clothes on our back. We were leaving with a 20×8 foot container with everything from t-shirts to toilet paper. Thank God we sold all the furniture!

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Still we needed to take things to wear for 33 days while we waited for our ship to come in. Being in love with our super fast Dell computer with its 22 inch monitor I decided to pack it with me. That was my first mistake. With what I needed to take to wear, a terrified cat and the boxes containing the computer it was $225 more than the price of the ticket.

When I asked if this included shipping everything two days later from Baltimore I was told it did only to learn that Northwest did not know what they were talking about. When I went to leave on Sunday morning I was told it was $225 more! I had visions of the attendant on the ground with my hands around her neck. I was ready to kill but an airport is no place to straggle someone.

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After much grumbling and head wagging the cost of my flight just doubled.

But I got my revenge…sort of. With all the commotion they forgot that I had a cat. Delta allowed Katy to fly with me while US Air’s policy was to charge $100 for carrying an animal. She was booked but I needed to pay before boarding the plane.

It was a “don’t ask don’t tell” situation and for once in my life I learned to keep my mouth shut. As I stood there with credit card I was praying Katy would not utter a sound, fortunately she knew enough to keep quiet even though she was in plain sight.

As I went through security I had to take Katy out of the bag people “ooed” and “aahed” over her aquamarine eyes and silky hair. When I got to the gate I sat on the floor and took her out of her bag and a little boy came over to talk to her. The gate attendant was only 15 feet away but paid no attention. When I gave him my ticket Katy never mewed, she must have known.

I had one more hurdle to pass when I entered the airplane. I could have fainted when the guy in the first row of first class remarked about how beautiful she was and wanted to know if I took her everywhere. He either liked cats or other guys because he wanted to talk more but I moved quickly to the back of the bus.

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In Costa Rica we did not have a problem but my computer did. The customs agent wanted to know the value of the computer because he wanted to tax me for bringing it into the country. Luckily my Spanish got me past that problem and in the end he was offering me a book on places to photograph in Costa Rica.

When I reached the exit I saw my brother-in-law jumping up and down like a point guard in the last second of tied basketball game. I was so excited I could have kissed the ground.

I hugged him and my nephews more than twice. As we drove through San Jose the sights and sounds all came back. Even the rainy season pitched in to make me feel welcomed. We stopped in my favorite ice cream store (Pops) for chocolate shakes and grinned at each other as we slurped the last drops as we made our way over the mountain to our home in Cartago.

The family was waiting when I arrived. There was a whole lot of hugging. I made the rounds a couple of times. The word in Spanish is “emocionado“. It means excited. I think I let out a rebel yell that everyone enjoyed. I was happy.

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What was really fun was communicating in Spanish. Everyone said that my Spanish was much better but they all volunteered to help me learn more. Learning Spanish from a committee will be interesting.

As laid in bed later that night with Katy the Kat curled up on my stomach I worried about Silvia. I wished I could be there to share in her excitement of becoming a U.S. citizen. I worried about her driving through Seattle in the morning downtown rush hour to apply for her emergency passport. Would it arrive as promised?

It was out of my hands but me without her and her without me was something we do not do well. All I can do is wait and say a prayer.

“Yo estoy aqui” is interesting in Spanish because the word “estoy” means that I am not permanently here. I know I am here but apparently the Spanish speakers do not. Sorry, a little humor.

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Written by VIP member Ken Beedle who is a landscape photographer and retired Television Sales/Marketing Executive. Ken first visited Costa Rica in 1998 and later lived here for a few years, married a Tica and returned to the USA to take advantage of a business opportunity however, he promised to come back to Costa Rica and now he and his wife live in Cartago.


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