The Simple Things Are Free...

October 14th

It is raining in Buenos Aires. I am resting at the end of a full day. These days don’t seem to wear me out the way they did when we first got here. I have to remember to pass that along when we meet people who are new. I can’t explain why, but something about moving here was very exhausting somehow. It feels as though it has passed, or I have adjusted, because I don’t feel exhausted at the end of the day any more. Some parts of life have gotten more intense here, but I am starting to notice that home life is simpler and slower.

We have small gatherings with friends more often. We eat simpler, I’m still a good cook and the food is wonderful, it’s just more basic. It makes for good leftovers. It makes you feel healthy. We don’t have private rooms of our own any longer and so life is closer. We make phone calls to friends and family and even if one of us doesn’t talk we are intimately involved in the conversation. With Skype.com we can talk to people at home cheap or free and we can also hear both sides of the conversation in the room. I notice because of that I don’t call people unless I really want to talk to them. I am acutely aware that I am in my partner’s noise-scape when I talk and I want to respect that. Jimmy would not have me miss talking to a friend, I call when it matters.

Maybe really that is what I mean when I say that life is simpler in some ways. Maybe simpler means pared down to what matters. As I look at each day I notice there are things on my priority list and they are doable and planned. Whatever else I can accomplish with the time left is extra. I can list what matters and it isn’t a long list:

Yoga
Jimmy
Good, Healthy Food
Writing
Working
Friends & Family
Reading

Moving to Buenos Aires has changed me and how I move in the world forever. I will always be different for having had this experience and I believe that one thing I have discovered in the Southern Hemisphere is that the simple things in life are best.