Family shout out

Today was Dia de la Madre here (Mother's Day). As is custom with every other holiday here, firecrackers started going off promptly at 4am. Since there's a valley right outside my window, all that noise echoes and is channeled directly into my ear canal. My eyes shot open because I thought someone was shooting at us (which has never, ever been a fear of mine here, so why that was the first thing I thought of is kind of curious). I quickly figured out what it was though that didn't help me feel any better about it. Here's my question: If the country wants to do something nice for moms, if they declare this a national holiday and give all the women off for the day, then do you REALLY think said women want to be woken up at 4 in the friggen morning?! Why don't you take all of the kids out of the house and let your poor mom sleep in (and the poor neighbors, too).

So Mother's Day here isn't that different than in the states (other than the pyrotechnics). One cool perk that I mentioned above is that all mothers have off from work that day. Their kids/partners usually cook them a nice lunch and they get flowers. Pretty typical Mother's Day stuff.

So naturally with the holiday I was thinking a lot about my mom. I've been thinking a lot in general about my family and friends at home. This trip is amazing and it's already helped me in more ways than I had anticipated. Every week I get emails from folks at home encouraging me and telling me how proud they are of what I'm doing, but the truth of it is, if it weren't for an immense support system at home, I couldn't be doing this. My friends have been consistently sending me sweet emails, reading my blog entries and calling me on Skype to get the latest scoop of what's going on. On the occasions that I've felt depressed or homesick, knowing that they're taking this journey with me helps me stay motivated and optimistic. Some people have really gone above and beyond, too. I talk to Stacy almost every day. Our relationship is no different than when I was living a mile up the road from her (though with far fewer Coors Lights). My friend David Topete calls me all the time and even tried to wire me money after my wallet was stolen. It's great to know I'm supported by my friends and have folks who can back me up when I get into tight spots.

My Dad has been really great too. I've had some rough spots with my Dad over the years, but with a lot of patience and tolerance from both sides, things have been steadily improving. He's been a huge source of emotional support and encouragement. He calls me once a week and sent a wonderful care package filled with all the things I had been missing from the states. It's been nice to share this experience with him.

I feel like I don't even need to write about my siblings because everyone who knows us knows that we fall all over each other for the opportunity to help one another out. Our unity is unrivaled. We're quick to point out when one of us screwing up, but it's always in the context of "I've got your back, but next time you should do this, this and this." I think about them everyday here and can't wait to get back to being part of their everyday lives.

Without a doubt though, my partner throughout this journey has been my Mom. She's the air traffic controller for my adventure; she does the ground work and I take the credit. Before my trip, she helped me with all my prep work. She had her reservations about the trip, but knew that it was something that was important to me. She did everything she could do to make sure I was ready, from last minute shopping trips to long talks about safety concerns. Since I've been here she's run the show for me back home: managing my bank accounts, collecting my mail and handling any other random things that pop up. I can only imagine how difficult this would have been without having her to back me up. She's been my biggest supporter for years though, so it's no surprise. So even though it's not American Mother's Day yet, just want to tell you all how super amazing my mom is and how much I count on her!