MIDWEEK MUSINGS this week reflect the Costa Rican family life. As I have mentioned my Costa Rican host family are two women, a mother about my age, and her daughter, Marcela. I should add they are both strong and independent.
Terri, the mother of the household, is a retired dietician with a pension and her daughter works for the company that brought me to this volunteer position, Maximo Nivel.
Every day the two women shop and cook for not only their 2 foreign guests but also make breakfast and lunch for Terri's brothers who live across the street. A couple of houses down is one of Terri's sisters. Her 20 yo niece took a bus 6 kilometers to hike with her aunt. She brought with her her 12-year-old cousin since kids are on vacation.
I can't even imagine this labor of daily familial responsibility. We as a nation tend to move where our jobs take us regardless of where our nuclear families reside. (Of course, later in life we tend to move our parents geographically closer.)
Did your parents live close to their siblings? I know my Grandmother did. Never ever heard of my grandfather's side of the family...
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