Hola! Me llamo Alicia Johnson. Mi familia vive en Costa Rica. Before you assume that Spanish is a part of my “WHY”, let me reassure you that it does have it’s part in this whole story, but we will get to that! Hey everyone, I promised so many people I would somehow share our familys’ crazy adventure, but I wasn’t sure exactly how. I am attempting to do the world’s most simple blog and hopefully those that want to follow along will be able to see all the amazing places we visit, the people we meet, and probably a few personal thoughts and feelings along the way. Maybe this will be a way for me to journal our time here. Perhaps it will be a source of peace and calm. Or maybe in the end it will all be just for me anyway and I’m ok with that.
Why did we come to Costa Rica anyway??? I suppose if you asked each person in the fam, you would get a slightly different answer. Let’s get started…
Well, our youngest child, Kennahdy (she will most likely be Kenn from here on out) graduated this year. Go VHS class of 2021! This means all four children are on to, or well into, bigger and better things than being home with mom and dad. Tanner (speaks Spanish), our oldest, is turning 24 this month, and finishing up his last year at BYU in their commercial music program. (He is super talented and if you want to know more, there is much more to say! El es muy talentoso con musica.) He has an internship at a recording studio this summer that he just couldn’t turn down, and he’s so close to finishing school that he is sprinting to the finish line of his BA and we are so proud of him. We are going to miss him like crazy, but he will be out a few times to visit, so watch for his cute face to pop up! Next up is Marshall (speaks Spanish), who is not really just Marshall anymore. He married the beautiful Micah (Young) (been learning Spanish since they got married) last September, and they are most commonly known as M&M, Marsh and Mike, or bros, or homies…you get the idea! They are the essence of the young generation at it’s finest! Seriously, two amazing young people that decided that they just couldn’t pass up the invitation to live in CR for 6 months. (Even if that meant living with parents… in the same house… same car… same everything! Told ya they were amazing!) Marshall deferred his schooling at Westminster College for a semester and is just working remote from here. Micah is our remote learner and attending school on line. Super crazy that they can do all that from all the way over here. I’m glad they are here and we get this chance to get to know this little sub-family of ours better. Kymble (speaking the most Spanish at the moment), referred to as Elder Johnson until August 16, is currently on a mission for our church in the Chile, Santiago North Mission. After a crazy start, middle, and end to this two year stent of his life, he will be joining us soon to grace us with his big personality and super cute face that I miss so much! El es muy guapo! Kennahdy (took two years of Spanish and understands more than she lets on), like I mentioned, graduated and left all her friends to surf the waves, serve the people, and probably pick up all the pieces of this family like she has for the past 18 years. She is a bright light in this FAM BAM of ours, and everyone would agree with me. She really wanted to do some humanitarian work before starting her college career, so she and Kymble will be diving into that together. Which only makes sense, since they are bestest of buddies. I am pretty sure that the clincher for getting her to come with us was the time she will get to spend with her big bro. Me jores amigos! (Let’s remind ourselves that I do not know all these Spanish phrases by heart!!! I am literally asking Marshall how to say and spell everything:)
I guess that just leaves Travis and I. If you know Travis (speaks some spanish from his HS dark-ages, and also learns a lot from his co-workers in the Central and South American markets he works with) at all, none of this comes as a surprise to you. He is our high adventure, high energy, big life, risk taker. He loves change, traveling, and all things under the sea. (Scuba diving is coming in tight as the favorite hobby, as he left his motorcycle behind for a bit.) He works for Walmart International, who has a home office out here in San Jose. He has co-workers that he has really enjoyed getting to know, and inquired a lot from, as CR is one of the few places that he has never traveled to during his many years in the Corporate World. (It was #1 on Kenn’s bucket list, so I am saying that it is partially because he loves his girl so much!!!) Anyway, we started talking last year about the inevitable that was coming… the empty nest stage… and what do you know… Travis had a really big idea on how we could handle this. ” Let’s sell the house, and move to Costa Rica!” “Que???” Don’t you love how he jumped from Centerville — all the way to Costa Rica, as if there weren’t 3491.485 miles in between, like 9 states or countries to cross through, a language barrier, a house to sell, family to leave, friends, a pizza restaurant, cars, school etc…! After some tough conversations and truly an ah-ha moment, realizing that not everyone thinks the way he does, (“you mean not everyone wants to leave everything they own and move to a foreign country, learn a new language and culture and have a grand adventure…???” ” ummmm….no!”) -we decided to go for it! So you can see that Travis’s WHY was really a WHY NOT? There has been no hesitations, no obstacle too big that he couldn’t figure out, and get us here. My WHY is much different. My WHY is still being discovered.
I (…do not speak Spanish:) could write a lot about how it was to sell our house, leave family and friends and the comforts of living. It wasn’t easy. Perhaps one of the hardest things I have ever done actually. But when it came down to the bottom line, the farthest, deepest part of my gut, I just wanted to be a mom little longer. I know I will always be their mom, but the dinner cooking, laundry doing, cheer leading, picture taking, hair braiding, sunscreen rubbing, let me bake you cookies and watch you laugh, play games together, torture each other, and love each other, all under one roof kind of mom…that’s the mom that I wasn’t ready to give up quite yet. So when most of the kids said they were in, I was in. Still didn’t make all that other stuff heart-ripping hard, but my WHY so far got me to this point, to Costa Rica, and the rest is part of the journey I suppose. I am sure you will hear bits and pieces of the WHY coming out as time comes on. But for now, Pura Vida mi amigos, and enjoy the journey…we have just begun.