I've dubbed 2019 to be The Year of Tessa. I'm 27, I work three different jobs, and I live with my parents (bless them). Why would this of all years be The Year of Tessa? I'll explain. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I'm in a position where I'm able … Continue reading Small changes. Big difference.
When I started reading things about grief after John died, I frequently came across the idea that the second year of grief is more difficult than the first. I scoffed every time I read that. How can the second year be harder? How can any feeling be worse than what I'm feeling right now? Now, … Continue reading Grief: Year Two
Original post can be found here. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, far behind Chinese in first and barely snuffing out English in third. With so many native speakers scattered all over the globe, accents and dialects run rampant, making Spanish sometimes tricky but mostly fascinating. Each region’s dialect offers a … Continue reading 10 Words to Know Before Arriving in Costa Rica
I'm beginning to learn a painfully obvious lesson: what has been cannot be again. Deep, I know. When it comes to travel and living abroad, I've discovered this to be even more true. When I arrived in Sámara last November for the Costa Rica TEFL month-long course, I was thrust into a group of friends that … Continue reading Going Through Changes
I've been really lucky to know three of my grandparents my entire life. My paternal grandma died at the hands of breast cancer when I was a wee babe, so I never really knew her, but her memory has been kept alive in my family in such a way that I feel like I do. … Continue reading International Love
In transition. That's how life has felt for the past year and some months. For five months of it, I had the privilege of living in wonderful Casaverde in Potrero, all of that time with Marcela and two of those months with Erik and Sigrid. With Erik and Sigrid heading back to Sweden and Marcela … Continue reading Moving Day
In March of this year, I began my first full-time teaching job. My teacher training comes strictly from being a writing tutor throughout college and from a one-month Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program I took here in Costa Rica. While the TEFL program certainly prepared me for a lot, my first few … Continue reading Review: Somebody Else’s Kids
I decided to read Janice MacLeod's Paris Letters for two reasons: (1) Janice's ongoing story of working to ditch her tiresome 9-5 corporate life for something bigger resonates deeply with me, and (2) well, Paris. A relatively quick read, I'd recommend this book to anyone who has even the slightest inkling that there might be … Continue reading Review: Paris Letters
When I was in middle school, I became friends with a girl whose mom had died. I remember coming home one day after hanging out with her and sprawling out on the couch in the family room, sobbing about her not having a mother on Mother's Day. Of course at that point, I had never … Continue reading A Mindful Mother’s Day
I'm told rain is coming. On the days that reach 92, 95, 97 degrees and the air conditioning at school breaks, I'm told rain is coming. Every morning after having woken up the night before around 2:00am to a pillow drenched in neck sweat, I'm told rain is coming. I've seen intermittent evidence of this, … Continue reading Río Celeste in the Rain
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