I was sad to leave Juan and Blenda's family in Lima, but I was anxious to see Leah, my childhood friend who I hadn't seen since I was in middle school. Leah and I met each other when I was in kindergarten and she was in first grade. We lived on the same street in Fairfax, Virginia and what my mom always tells me is that we fought continuously. But even though we fought, we remained best friends and after I moved away from Virginia after just completing third grade, we kept in touch. We would write to each other and when we were both in middle school, she made the trip out to see me in San Diego and I visited her back in Virginia. We managed to stay in touch throughout the years, sporadic as it was, and now life brought us back together again. Her work brought her to Ecuador, where she met her husband, Leo. Their story is so beautiful, I hope she doesn't mind me telling it. When her job sent her to the Dominican Rebublic for more than 6 months, she told Leo to come join her since her lodging and food was all paid for by her job. He sold his car to buy a ticket to the Dominican and sacrificed months away from his son from his first marriage, Matteo, in order to see if they could make it work. After his sacrifices, she had no problem sacrificing her life as it was to move to Ecuador. She sold her apartment and her car and joined him in Ecuador, where they are now married with two beautiful sons of their own. Baby Lucas was born just a month before I arrived!!!
Needless to say, I had a swirl of emotions run through me as I saw her waiting for me at the airport with Lucas in her arms. She apologized and asked if she could finish nursing Lucas before we left the airport and so she asked me how my trip had been while we waited for Lucas to get his fill. When we left the airport, there were puddles on the ground from the rain and the sky threatened more. Leah told me that it was normally hot during the morning and then rained in the afternoon. We put my bags into the trunk and then headed out to the grocery store. She said she was so proud of herself because that was the first time she had driven to the airport without Leo.
The grocery store was huge. They had big grocery stores in Peru, but this one seemed different, like there was more space between the aisles. Leah threw this and that into the cart as she told me that Leo usually does the grocery shopping.
We went back to her apartment and were greeted by Joshua, Leah's two-year-old, and Christina, the nanny. The apartment was beautiful, decorated tastefully by Leo. It had a very modern feel to it. Leah told me that she was so lucky to have Christina because Christina had lived with one of her children in Canada and spoke some English. They are trying to get Joshua to speak more English. Leah speaks to him in English, but he always responds in Spanish, except if he only knows the English word for something.
Since it was raining, we passed the evening at the house. When Leo got home we ate fajitas for dinner. They had set up an air mattress for me in Joshua's playroom. I unpacked a bit and took a shower. Maybe the shower shouldn't be worth mentioning, but their shower seriously looks like a rocketship. I regret not taking a picture of it. It's one that is situated in the corner like a quarter of a circle. The doors slide open and you can turn on lights that illuminate the sides of the shower. That's when I really felt like I was going to blast off into space. :) There was also a radio in there, so I would listen to Spanish radio while I dodged the toys Joshua uses during his bathtime. Leah said the shower looks nice, but she could hardly move in there when she was really pregnant. It was a bit cramped inside, but it sure did look awesome. haha
I went to sleep with the sound of pattering rain on the transparent roof. The roof over the playroom was different than the roof over the majority of the house, so it amplified the sound of the rain all the more. I love the sound of rain...
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