When we decided to split up I had 30-days to pack up and vacate our marital home but didn’t know where I was going to go. We had only been married a year and a half. Covid was taxing on us and was still a concern but had a couple promising lulls. My Mom’s cancer had returned but we were hopeful she could return to the immunotherapy that had worked so well for her over the past couple of years. I needed a high ground, a positive path, someplace to pause and understand this new phase of my life. And I wanted to work on it through my art. I applied to the Mauser Eco House artist residency in Parrita, Costa Rica and made a plan for a month’s stay. My 20-year old son who was living with us packed his backpack and left for Europe. Looking back on this pivot point in our lives, it was like some undeniable force picked us up mid-stride and turned our shoulders in a different direction, leading our feet to follow an entirely different path. Among strangers from several different countries in a strange and beautiful land I gained perspective and knew that I now needed to look for love in the world and in myself vs with just one person. During this visit I was able to take a side trip to San Isidro to visit my Mom’s youngest sibling Sue Tschudy living off the grid in the cloud forest. I hitched a ride with her friend Katya Deluisa traveling from a different artist residency in San Jose. These two were just the elder spiritual feminists I needed to hang with!
