A Mexican Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to my beloved friends and family Stateside! All the way out here in Mexico, I have still had the good fortune to celebrate with my immediate family. By last Friday, my brother and my parents were here with me. 

My real Thanksgiving occurred last Saturday. My mom came up with the idea to celebrate this American holiday in our community with singing. The last minute invitation went out – bring a gratitude, a “Thanksgiving” dish and a song!

By the time everyone arrived, all age groups were present. There was a newborn baby and we celebrated the presence of the oldest member of the community. Amongst the buzzing of people, special dishes covered all of the surfaces. There was just the right amount of food. As the last person left the food line, there was no more dinner to be had. Then on to dessert!

With dessert came the singing. Each family had brought a song to teach or to share. My friend from Spain sang a flamenco song. Her daughter sang a pop song in English accompanied by her guitar. Don Goyo, a campesino worker sang traditional Mexican songs of country love. A mother who guides transformational sweat lodges sang a song from the Temascal with her two small sons. 

My family and I closed with the song “Swimming to the Other Side” by Pat Humphries.

The words of this song are so beautiful. Sometimes, they make me cry.

We are living 'neath the great Big Dipper

We are washed by the very same rain

We are swimming in the stream together

Some in power and some in pain

We can worship this ground we walk on

Cherishing the beings that we live beside

Loving spirits will live forever

We're all swimming to the other side

I am alone, and I am searching

Hungering for answers in my time

I am balanced at the brink of wisdom

I'm impatient to receive a sign

I move forward with my senses open

Imperfection, it be my crime

In humility I will listen

We're all swimming to the other side  

On this journey through thoughts and feelings

Binding intuition, my head, my heart

I am gathering the tools together

I'm preparing to do my part

All of those who have come before me

Band together and be my guide

Loving lessons that I will follow

We're all swimming to the other side  

When we get there we'll discover

All of the gifts we've been given to share

Have been with us since life's beginning

And we never noticed they were there

We can balance at the brink of wisdom

Never recognizing that we've arrived

Loving spirits will live together

We're all swimming to the other side 

How easy it is to forget that we’re all in this together, that we are never alone. How commonly do we aspire to get to the next achievement without realizing that we have already arrived in our own perfection? There I was, encircled by an incredible community - all celebrating a holiday from another culture, simply because it nurtures body and spirit to be together.

There is so much to be grateful for. I am grateful for all the things that I have. Here in Mexico, I’ve also learned to be grateful for the things that I don’t have. I call this patience. Sometimes, I wish I already owned a dog. Other days, I wish there weren’t so many variables to sort through in your 20s. But I cannot change those things! It’s a privilege to explore, to learn and to grow. I’m learning to appreciate the creativity and magic of my moment and I look forward to all of the moments yet to come.

As the night was wrapping up, my brother put on salsa music inviting people to dance. Guests were reticent to go inside near the music; the fresh breeze was so compelling. It was not too long before the 10-14 year olds in the community cautiously suggested that we change to the pop music on their ipods, and leave the adults outside to enjoy the weather. That day, the solar panels had run out of electricity. Soon, my living room was filled with preteens jamming to Top 40s hits by candle light. What fun!

I can't top the "Friendsgiving" I had on Saturday. Today is a working day here in Mexico, just like every other Thursday! In between my private sessions and my kids yoga class, my family and I will eat out at a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. No home cooked meal, no mashed potatoes. What will be similar to my familiar memories of Thanksgiving, however, is that I plan to order a lot of food, more than I can eat, and bring home left overs. And I will share something that I am grateful for. 

Tiny Houses

All my life, I have dreamed of building a tiny house -- well, not just one tiny house. My dream has been to build a collection of tiny cottages on a single property that demonstrate different cottage designs and eco-technologies. It’s hard to believe that because of some lazy, non-egg-laying chickens, my dream is coming true!

For the past three weeks, my chickens have been living in their new home. Their new coop, built with the timbers from the original coop, is much closer to my kitchen - where I can keep a watchful eye on them and their egg laying practices!

I’ve gotten many inquiries about my communication experiment with the chickens. I am pleased to report this experiment a success – with at least two eggs each day! Two eggs is less than ideal for more than 20 chickens. I did, however, ask for a sign of cooperation from the chickens of laying at least one egg a day. Thank you chickens for offering two instead!

Under my supervision, and exploring their new outdoor space, my chickens are also demonstrating their ability to climb trees. Who knew that even plump chickens can get into trees? This habit has resulted in some escapees! 

Exiting themselves from their yard unintentionally by way of a tree, a few chickens have made a patch of dirt on “my” side of the fence for dirt bathing. They use it every chance they get before I can trap them and put them back in their yard.

With the chickens now settled near the house, my commute no longer includes a walk past the friendly looking coop. Instead, each day, I pass its skeleton. It looks so lonely, I began to wonder what would become of the former coop’s left-behind roof tiles and wooden posts.

One morning as I walked to work in the dark, bleary eyed at 6:40 am, I thought I saw a door in between the two forward facing posts. 

I blinked. A door? I looked again. No, it wasn’t. It must have been the sun sending one warm, encouraging beam my way, leaving the rest of the building in darkness.

I walked on. But I couldn’t get the image of that roof and those posts with a door out of my mind. Converting the chicken coop to a house seemed crazy at first, but in another way, it fit. I wasn’t totally construction illiterate and my love of tiny houses started in childhood! 

My interest in tiny house started at least by the age of 7. I devoured the Box Car Children books, as well as The Borrowers - a series about tiny people who live in a wall of someone’s home. At the time, I lived in a bedroom the size of a spacious closet. This was perfect for me! 

At 10, after moving to a new house, I promptly built a bed in the closet, converting the rest of the space into a “tiny home” within a home. I installed a make believe living room and kitchen – with tiny silverware and a small couch. 

At 12, I asked my dad to buy me a $5,000 tiny house kit for the back yard. He said “No!” thus ending my seven year obsession with tiny houses … for a time.

After college, I reignited my love of small homes and of architecture and design by getting a Masters degree in City and Regional Planning. I hoped to appropriately plan my tiny house village, should the day come for me to manifest it. I learned later that that is not exactly what an urban planning degree is designed for, but you can’t know everything ahead of time.

I also attended Jay Shafer’s two-day “Tiny House Building” workshop in Washington, DC. One of the first people to write about building his own tiny house, Shafer has been a pioneer in the American tiny house movement.

I took another big step by participating in a two-week tiny house design-build course at Yestermorrow in Vermont. There, I joined a team building a tiny house from scratch (or part of it) and I made the most wonderful friends.

You can tell that even building a tiny house is back breaking work!

Here we are ready to raise the first wall!

I also designed my own tiny house. Here are my models!

As I walked to work that day, and reviewed my personal history with tiny houses, I decided, YES! This was my chance! I would build a tiny house. I would transform that chicken shed into the prettiest tiny house Mexico had ever seen!

(Stay tuned!)