Breathe

Today we took in a day in the country. I wish I could sufficiently describe the things I saw and felt. We started in a mercado where we bought meat hanging in an open air market and cooked it on a community bbq right there. We bought the freshest salsas, avocados, onions and tortillas so fresh that they burned our hands. The woman who sold us the meat, the carnicera, is a friend of mine and she came out to hug me and tell me how fat I´ve gotten since she had seen me last, but that my kids were cute. My cute kids took that cue to totally freak out and commence tandum screaming. Since Mexican children are so well cared for that they rarely cried, everyone was offering advice. "Dale chi chi ya" everyone said, that meant "breastfeed her already." So I did, even though the newest yeast infection makes it so painful to feed her that I weep each time. Thank God that Davey is bringing me a cure this week (Thanks Barb! Loves). She ate her chi chi and cried some more anyway.

We headed out with the screaming children on our laps in the cab of the truck, everyone else on a mattress that was mine when I lived here, in the back. Everyone wanted to take Screams-a-lot-Goldie in the back, but I think Davey would have killed me. We went to a road side distillery where they make Mezcal (sort of tequilaish) and watched the process. They suggested a nearby place by a dam where we could eat under a tree. It was perfect. Watching my girls chow down on traditional Mexican foods and then when everyone left to go close to the water, I stayed back and layed down on the mattress and gave Roob some more chi chi. It was in that moment that I felt a peace come over me, watching my friends in shadow near the water and filling my head with the clouds passing over me. Hearing myself and my baby. Just. Breathe.

It is moments like this that keep my heart here in Oaxaca.