By Tere
Ruiz
When I was around 8 years old, I met my friend Maria who became a
sister to me. Ever since then, we’ve
been Friends Forever and much more.
Sharing wonderful times of play while kids, lots of romantic stories
while teenagers, and joyous moments while raising our children.
Maria and I went school together and we also went to the
fair, traveling, partying, and much more.
When Maria and I were 35 years old, my dear friend was expecting her
third baby and while giving birth to her, she had a thrombosis. Her baby made it to this world on time, but
my friend was very sick. I really don’t
remember how long she stayed in the hospital, the only thing I remember is that
we couldn’t visit her there. The
information regarding her health would filter drop by drop through her maid,
her husband’s secretary, or anyone who could reach her mom or someone for a
couple of minutes on the phone.
I remember I used to cry all day long thinking of my
beloved friend Maria and her three children who were about to lose their mom.
Finally some weeks later my friend came back and recovered
miraculously from the thrombosis. But of
course it was months until we could finally reach her and have a “normal”
conversation with her, if possible.
I recall that about 6 months later I finally was able to
get to visit her in her house. She was
finally back to normal and she told me everything that had happened to her
during those months.
When she was finished, I asked her to listen to my side
story and how much I had suffered during those times. When I was finished, I promised to her and to
myself that I would always tell her how much I loved her from then on. And I asked her to tell her children our
story together, so they would know that they would always count on me and that
I would always love them too.
I guess, in my despair, I lost the shame and fear to let
everybody know that I love them. And
since that day, I love much more and I let everybody know how much I love
them. And it feels so right!
I recovered lots of my “loves” from my life and I’ve
“collected” many, many beloved ones since then, as a gift from Living in Lake Chapala
and I’ve discovered that saying “I love you” is like a key that opens the heart
of the people and that it is quite contagious.
Yes, it is contagious, because now, I have no shame or feel embarrassed
to say “I love you” and I always get a lot of “I love you too!” back.
Is there anybody you love and haven’t told them so? This is the right moment to do it, and it is
so easy and priceless. I am sure that if
you have come in a Focus on Mexico Program, you already know that.
What I learned of this experience is that the most
important thing when you say “I love you” is that you give a gift of love to
the people, but you also give yourself a gift of joy, and guess what?, most of
the times you also receive a gift of Love, back.
So just in case, we don’t get to see each other soon, I
send you all my love, till we meet again or till we ever meet and become
beloved ones.
Bio for articlesTere Ruiz-Rodarte: Director of Research and Development FocusOnMexico.
Focus On
Mexico offers 8-Day Educational
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