The Men in Our Lives

No, this is not a post about romance. Katie and I didn’t meet the loves of our lives in Costa Rica. No, we don’t have Tico boyfriends. Calm down, this isn’t going to be THAT interesting. But I’ve been told I’m a pretty entertaining writer, so I urge you to keep reading nonetheless. The men I’m referring to in the title of this post are the only men in this world who love us enough to spend money on plane tickets to San Jose for the purpose of visiting Katie and I here in our new natural habitat. These men are Katie’s father, Daniel, who I have lovingly referred to as Dee or Danielle since the age of eleven, and my Uncle Pete, who from here on out will be known solely as “Tio Pedro.”

So originally Katie had intended to return home to New York on the 5th of April, but as we made our way through March, she decided doing so simply wouldn’t be feasible and that she’d need to stay for at least another month to bask in the glory of our Central American lifestyle. Because of her extended stay-time, she informed Daniel that he would have to come visit us, and then simply booked him a flight. The following is my favorite story to use in order to describe how easy-going Daniel is and how accommodating he is to his daughters and their needs: Katie, her sister Meghan, and Daniel live together in a two-bedroom apartment. Last year, when Katie and Meghan were bickering so much and having a hard time cohabitating in their shared bedroom, Daniel allowed Meghan to take his room as her own, and he has since been sleeping on a mat on the floor in the living room. Literally. Katie thinks this is extremely funny. Sometimes I forget that the living room has become Daniel’s bedroom until I am reminded of this fact when Katie and I return home to the apartment late at night acting like our usual loud and obnoxious selves, and a voice from the floor says, “Kate, what time is it? Keep it down.” I giggle and whisper, “Sorry Danielle!” while we grab the Double Stuf Oreos from the kitchen and tiptoe to her bedroom. I absolutely adore Daniel, and have always considered him, and the rest of Katie’s family, to be my family as well. So I was really excited that he was coming to hang with us in “The Rica,” as Katie so lovingly refers to our new “pais”.

Daniel was to come for about six days, and it just so happened that Tio Pedro, one of my most beloved family members, was coming to visit me during the same time! Tio Pedro isn’t actually a blood relative of mine, but he is my uncle nonetheless. I’ve known him since before I was born, and he has been one of the most consistent presences in my life for as long as I can remember. We make a good team, the two of us, because I love to talk and he puts up with listening to me. We have bi-weekly dinner dates at home in New York, during which I regale him with all of the non-interesting stories about my life, and he laughs at me. Anyways, I’m assuming that in judging by the fact that I’ve talked through the entirety of each sushi dinner and each short road trip we’ve ever taken together, without stopping, and that now I was in a new place with new people AND we hadn’t seen each other for a good two months, Tio Pedro must have been prepared for the verbal bombardment I had in store for him. Perhaps this is why he planned to break up his visit in Costa Rica with a little three-day solo motorcycle excursion. Sometimes a break from me is a wise choice. I recently met a new friend here, and after we’d hung out for a few days together we went bungee jumping. Well, in reality he went bungee jumping and I chickened out, which I’ll explain in a future post. The point is that days later, during a long bus ride together, he turned to me with a smile and said, “You do realize that four days after I met you, I jumped off a bridge, right?” I reminded him that he’d been harnessed at the time, but that I understood his point.

So Katie and I planned a trip to Nosara, home of the infamous Gilded Iguana weekend, for her, me, Daniel, Tio Pedro, Beth, Deanna and Adam. On Wednesday afternoon Daniel was to arrive at the airport, so Katie, Beth, Deanna and I waited patiently outside for him, holding a huge sign that read: “Welcome to Rica, Daniel!” After about ten minutes of standing around, Deanna said, “All right, I need an ice cream.” I have never once seen this girl not in the process of eating something. Have you guys ever seen the newer version of ‘Ocean’s Eleven?’ If it’s been a while, go back and watch it again and just take note of the fact that Brad Pitt is eating in each and every scene of that movie. He’s never not eating. Well, Deanna is our own little Brad Pitt. She’s also really hot, so this comparison is doubly fitting. Anyways, I’ve never seen her without some sort of food item in her hand, and that food item has hardly ever been something other than an ice cream. So she ordered her ice cream and it was then that we discovered how the ice cream at the weird little stand outside the airport is the most delicious vanilla soft serve any of us has ever tasted before. I took it upon myself to remember this, and the next night when I picked up Tio Pedro, I indulged in one myself. Anyways, Deanna ate her ice cream and we jumped up and down holding the poster, looking through the large glass windows like crazed lunatics, trying to read the departure city on the tags of people’s luggage, scouring the place for Dee. FINALLY we saw him, and I captured the father daughter reunion with the video feature on my camera. Having collected Daniel, I went back to San Jose while Dee and the girls headed out to Nosara in his rental car. I couldn’t wait to pick up Tio Pedro the next day!!!