A Mother's Love by Deborah Ziegler

Author:Deborah Ziegler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2016-11-03T04:00:00+00:00

Ellis loaned Brittany his extreme, internal-frame backpack for her six-week trip to Costa Rica, and she stuffed it to the max. Gary and I shopped for a rain poncho, mosquito netting, and other supplies. I caught Brittany taking some of those items out and adding a large makeup bag. Gary and I couldn’t convince her that makeup was the last thing she would need on a banana farm in Costa Rica.

Luckily, Brittany had taken Spanish in school, and I hoped that if she truly needed something she could buy it when she got there. The volunteer/adventure tour entailed working alongside farmers who were learning new organic and sustainable farming practices. The volunteers stayed with a host family on a farm. There was electricity but no television, computer, or telephone. Britt would receive academic credit for participating in the program.

I was concerned, but I also thought the experience would be very good for Brittany. She had attended school with affluent kids, and this trip would be an eye-opener. The only contact would be from a public phone booth, which would be a forty-five-minute walk away. The brochure emphasized that volunteers would be working hands-on to increase the productivity of the farm.

After a few days there, Brittany called from the phone booth. She’d walked three miles down a dirt road to get to it. “Momma, I wear rubber boots that come up above my knee because the mud is so deep here. I tie a rope around my waist and pull banana trees down, like a mule.”

“Don’t hurt your back! I can’t believe they expect young women to topple trees.”

“Don’t worry, these suckers would blow over in a strong wind—of which there is none. God, it’s so hot and muggy here!” She described the mosquitoes and the snakes, but I could tell she loved it.

“So, you’re liking it? I’m so relieved.”

“I love this family, Momma. This brave, strong Costa Rican woman and her beautiful, happy children. Her no-good husband abandoned her, just walked out. She’s trying to make a go of it on her own. Kind of like you, Momma.”

At the end of one month on the farm, Brittany joined other volunteers for a two-week tour of Costa Rica that included whitewater rafting on an eighteen-mile stretch of the Pacuare River with class-three and -four rapids. Britt’s favorite part was hiking through the Gandoca Wildlife Refuge, where she crossed rivers on rickety suspension bridges and saw adorable white-faced capuchin monkeys, toucans, and tiny poisonous frogs.

When Ellis brought our suntanned daughter home from the airport, she was happy and relaxed. “People were stoked that I was going to Berkeley,” she told us as she wolfed down a late-night snack.

I thought I saw Ellis flinch, but to his credit he was elated that she’d had such a good experience. I looked at Ellis and felt a twinge in my heart. His boyish face belied a maturity he’d shown by not getting in Brittany’s way when she wanted to travel, and even helping her get prepared for the trip.

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