Photo via Pinterest

So what about compassion?

It became the engineer I found at the hotel, who told me I had no coolant or engine oil,

who bought my dinner and glass of white wine.

And the man in the tow truck, who brought a new rental car in the night from 2 hours away and asked

if I wanted him to pick up anything else along the way.

Gratitude was the beach with moving water

and rugged sand, and the hike I took with a view of translucent landscape I never would have seen

if I hadn’t allowed myself to go there alone.

And the conversations I had, sitting by the pool in the valley, about my Costa Rica tee shirt, art, music.

And the writing.

Those remembrances of myself reflected back to me from the kind strangers I met at the hotel,

and along the way.