San Pancho is all a-bustle preparing for the upcoming 5th annual fundraiser for entreamigos, our thriving community center which is the heart of the pueblo.
I spent yesterday afternoon working in my studio with 7-year-old Angy, who gleefully painted hearts and suns and the ocean and a moonlit sky on one of the pieces we will submit for the auction. She and I share a certain exuberance, emerging from the studio smiling and paint-spattered. "Art is my life," she says solemnly. Yeah, I get it, chica, I reply as we climb the stairs to meet her mama.
This morning, I was joined in the studio by 10-year-old Antu, a miracle of a child with eyes and sensitivities as deep as the sea. We collaborated on another piece, a little desk built by Jack and Rick, two American friends and residents who volunteer their skills at entreamigos.
Other volunteers are working daily at the giant conglomeration of activity that is entreamigos: doing art with the children, building sets and displays, creating the stuff and infrastructure of the fundraiser. There has been much conversation this past few weeks about the organization--its present and future, its potential, its capacity for involvement.
One of the phrases that keeps popping up in these dialogues is "personal relevance". Here, where a vital portion of the community is comprised of retired and semi-retired ex-pats, we discuss in tender moments the meaning of life in our "third age", as this time of life is called in Mexico. We're finished, or nearly so, with the jobs that defined us for forty years. Now, with children grown, our second-age jobs accomplished, what's next?
How do we re-define ourselves in our sixties and beyond?
Here's my confession: after forty years of involvement in general political and social issues, I've had it. I've lost my belief that work on the grand scale makes any real difference at all in the long run. I've come to believe that, rather than trying to change the world on a macrocosmic level, the best use of our energies and talents and skills is by finding our own microcosms.
Yesterday afternoon and this morning, I worked inside my chosen microcosm, a world in which I can exercise my own personal passions, a place of giving what I can and receiving so much in return. Watching the creative energy and talent of these children, playing with them with our paints and colors, is one joy. Another is witnessing their burgeoning self-esteem as they think for themselves and complete a piece they can be proud of. A third will be delivering these pieces to help raise funds for a place in which I believe.
Each person who volunteers for entreamigos creates his own microcosm. Each person takes on what he or she finds the most compelling.
The opportunity exists to use one's hard-learned skills, to share one's innate talents...or to set afire a long-smouldering passion.
For some, it is construction. For others, computer work. Or organizing the library. Or tutoring the local school children in a particular subject. Teaching an English class, taking a Spanish class. Or sitting on the floor helping with a jigsaw puzzle. It doesn't matter what one chooses as a focus or how much time one has to give: each contribution, large or small, contributes to the whole.
The founder and director of entreamigos, Nicole Swedlow, has a microcosm larger than most. Anyone privileged to watch her administer the countless offerings of the expansive vision she has brought to life is boggled by the size of the job she has taken on. Yet it is the job she has chosen.
In my vision, all these microcosms, small, medium, and large, mesh together. In cellular fashion, change happens. The world becomes a better place. And we, as individuals, discover a path to true relevance.
I've learned in the past few weeks that there may be other small missions to add to my microcosm. Perhaps it will expand a bit, as, at times during my life in San Pancho, it has by necessity contracted for a while. I guess these microcosms breathe like cells, too.
And as they breathe, so do we. Here--surrounded by friends of many ages from several countries, working and playing side-by-side, inspiring and being inspired--we can breathe the breath of a life daily redefined and treasured. Wherever you are, I trust you are discovering a way to do the same.
It can't be a coincidence that the theme of this year's entreamigos benefit event is Gracias a la Vida. Take a look: entreamigos
And if you're nearby, or plan to be, I hope you'll stop in for a visit. Who knows where the path into the lively collaboration that is entreamigos will lead you?
:). perfectly put.... we blunder along behind/beside you in this third life some of us have been offered .... I feel as though it is a gift. GG
Posted by: Gretchen | February 21, 2013 at 07:34 PM
Excellent read Candice. The entreamigos looks like a wonderful place. I would love the see some photos of the children's artwork at the fund raiser!
Posted by: Jeanne | February 21, 2013 at 04:05 PM
Wonderful article, Candice! Your descriptions of this time in your life truly resonate with me. I haven't found my true "next thing" yet, but am enjoying the journey. Love you.
Posted by: Lisa Flynn | February 21, 2013 at 07:03 AM