Little Big Gifts

One of my favorite movies is "Little Big Man." (If you haven't seen it, it's worth it...Dustin Hoffman plays a guy whose life is full of adventure and who has affected many others, usually for the better, although this is probably not how many would describe it.)

Anyway, this past couple of weeks have been full of "Little Big Gifts." Today, for example, is our son Steve's 28th Birthday! Happy happy joy joy Steve! We love you and miss you!

Also last week we were helped by a man who is a virtual stranger (introduced to us through a mutual friend) who came with us and helped us get a business permit that has taken us almost a year to acquire. On the day that we had an appointment to meet him at the ARPE office, we started out and our car began to chug and act like it was going to quit at any time. We talked it over, called our mechanic (he suggested we pull over and check for live rodents in the air intake, which we did), and decided to try to make it to Aguadilla and the appointment, even if it meant walking for miles. As we came to a stoplight we saw our friend and neighbor, Sharon, in her car in front of us. Thinking she might also be going to Aguadilla, I jumped out of the car (people waited patiently), ran up to her, asked her where she was going and told her our problem. Turns out she was going a few more blocks to her dentist and offered to trade cars at the dentist. This we did, and after receiving a quick rundown on the idiosyncracies of her car (e.g., don't open the back door because it doesn't close again) we drove it to our destination, made the appointed time, got our permit approved, and came back to the dentist office where we traded back our cars, all the while smiling.

Then, in the afternoon, I went to our mechanic's house. He spent 35-40 minutes checking the car and figured out that we had a hole burned through one of the spark plug wires. Instead of saying he had to keep the car, etc., he found some special epoxy, glued up the hole and told me where I could use his name and get the new spark plug wires cheap! Drove there successfully, mentioned Terry's name and they smiled and gave me a BIG discount, took the new wires back to him and he replaced them. Total cost - wires and labor - $48. When he was done, he asked if I wanted the old spark plug wires. I said "no" and he said, "Good, I'll keep 'em around (and give them for free) for some poor surfer who can't afford to pay for new wires. They should hold somebody for a little while anyway."

And, two days ago I went to the post office to get money orders and mail our mortgage payment. While there, a man came in carrying a plastic bag and handed it across the counter to the employee working with me, who promptly gave him $20. I asked, "Que es eso?" ("What is that?"). Turns out it was 5 lbs. of very fresh Mahi Mahi (or Dorado as it's known around here). I got very excited (it's one of my favorite seafoods) and asked if he had more, then realized I didn't have an extra $20. "No problema" I was told - buy now, pay later, even with a person I had never met before, did not live there, and was simply going to trust that I would bring the $ to the post office when I could and he would pick it up sometime.

SO, that's how we ended up tonight eating fresh Mahi Mahi - grilled to perfection with light butter, lime juice, salt and pepper, celebrating that we now have our Permiso de Uso, and enjoying all the wonderful little big gifts our life brings us!