A week ago I saw a post about an organization in San Diego hosting a paddle out to celebrate International Women’s Day. My first thought was, wow, that’s such a cute idea… maybe next year.
About an hour later, I found myself asking a different question…Why would wait until next year?
A few texts were sent asking if a different groups might want to collaborate. I told myself that if even one person said yes, I’d figure out the rest.
They all said yes.
Something I’ve come to really love about living in Mexico is the flexibility around putting things together a little last minute. I come from a world where events are planned months, sometimes years, in advance. Everything scheduled, organized, approved.
Here things move a bit differently.
There’s a willingness to say “sí, vamos a hacerlo” and figure the rest out together. Fewer hoops to jump through, more flexibility, less need for every detail to be in concrete.
Wednesday morning we shared the invitation for a paddle out, the details followed quickly, and before we knew it, Saturday morning a solid group of people gathered at the beach. Here is a little bit of how that all went…
I’m still thinking about what we witnessed together this weekend. How when people come together and share time, space, and a little bit of our lives… something small begins to change.
There are so many forces constantly pulling us toward isolation, toward believing we’re alone or that the weight of the world is ours to carry by ourselves.
Saturday and International Women’s Day felt like a little challenge to that idea. Just a reminder that even with everything happening in the world, sometimes the most meaningful thing we can do is simply be near each other.
Surround yourself with people who are like you AND people who are different from you. Somehow the world and all its problems feels a little less overwhelming when we’re together.
