How Time Flies

I feel like I´m more aware of time here. Aware of the time that has passed since I´ve been here and how much the people and the place have changed. There are big things like they´ve paved parts of the road, put in some sidewalks, put in a cell phone tower(that´s still not connected, but it´s there nonetheless), and now they´re putting in light posts all the way past my house on our little road. So instead of having luz (electricity) that´s floja (weak) I will soon have luz fuerte that will run from the wire by the pole that´s 40 feet from my house.

However, the biggest way I notice time passing here is with the muchachitos, and with the pregnancies and births that have happened since I´ve been here. For example, my friend Rosini was pregnant when I got here and now her daughter Yuliana is a year old. They mayor Eddie and his esposa Mayelin just had their second son and Cafe their first is growing like a weed. He was just beginning to talk when I got here and now he´s talking up a storm and inventing stories like Nate did when he was that age. My friend Yafresi just had her secon daughter (which is another story I´ll get too at some later point) and her first who was a year old when I got here is now 2 and a half. And Steven, the grandsom of one of my favorite doñas, La Buena, could barely walk and now he wanders our neighborhood visiting friends and playing.

It´s through these kids and friendships that I measure time here. It´s through them that I realize not only how long I´ve been here but how time moves us along and changes us without us even knowing it. And it´s through them that I realize how time has made me part of this community that I´ve come to love.