Unemployment and Mexican Smiles

My husband Fred and I “ran away” for the holidays to Mexico.  2011 was a very busy year and we are grateful. We married off two children this summer on top of numerous showers, the birth of another grandchild, family gatherings and lots of work in between.  It was a slow couple of weeks at Fred’s work and for myself as well, so we figured all the children would forgive us as long as we did a little celebration before we left.  Mission accomplished!

We hadn’t realized, but the two weeks prior and following Christmas is when all the Mexican families come to Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo for holiday vacation.  The hotels and beaches were packed.  The weather was perfect, the ocean blue, silky and warm, the food fresh and delicious, especially the seafood and need I discuss the tequila and beer?  Fred and I took long walks daily, went on a couple day adventures, lounged at the beaches and the pool, snorkeled and enjoyed every moment.

Despite all the fun we had, the main memory we brought home was the positive, loving energy of these families. There is tremendous poverty in the town and surrounding countryside of Zihuantanejo, but no matter how bad it appeared to our Western Eyes, our Divine Eyes saw the genuine light,  peace and happiness in the smiles everywhere we went.  The poorest families work 6 days a week walking endlessly in the heat trying to sell little, worthless goodies to the turistas.  Very young children, as young as 2 years old, are out trying to make money for the family.  They enter restaurants and the proprietors respectfully allow these children to ask for help.  There are no judgmental, sad looks from anyone.  When you tell them no, they smile, turn without any negative energy and go to the next table.  One restaurant had a soap opera playing, and the look of excitement and the glee in the eyes of these kids as they took a minute from their work to stare at the TV screen, made my heart melt.  They obviously take the greatest pleasure from the simplest things we take for granted.  The single mother standing outside waiting with an infant slung on her hip, smiled as she let her kids have a few minutes of enjoyment before moving on in the effort to care for her children.  I again remembered that truly all a human needs is air, water, food, shelter and love.  When we know of not much else, we can be simple, happy and content.  Who says we have to be successful, wealthy, and competitive?

So we came home with this lesson embedded in our hearts, to discover that Fred’s work contract as a consultant had come to an end.  He calls it “in between contracts” and call it what you may, it means no paycheck to depend on.  Having said that, we could had been very 3rd dimensional and gone into fear and feelings of lack, or not.  We chose or not!  These are the times that one really has to remember the fact that we are powerful creators and our realities are the extension of our thoughts, emotions and focus.  Now is the time that we enhance our feelings of abundance, gratitude and joy.  We look at this as one door closing and embracing the unknown as a new open doorway of adventure and abundance.  We smile and we have no concern about money.  Faith and trust are also key factors to keep burning bright in one’s heart.  We look at our little home and beautiful views, our robust health, our family, the beautiful blue sky, the faucet that provides unlimited, clean water and we look into each other’s eyes and love the love that is there forever.  We are grateful for the inner knowing and connection with the I AM  Presence in ALL THAT IS. We are blessed and we are grateful for those amazing smiles and glow of light in the faces of the Mexican people.