"Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. You'll see that there is life in the desert, stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now." Paulo Coelho

Lime green walls and filthy benches, they welcome me each morning as I enter. And new purple tables, these laugh at the missing ceiling panels and leaking roof. The bookshelf, our solitary bookshelf, it sags bravely with the weight of donated books and recycled materials. The beans have sprouted between cracks in the floor, these green stems stand tall, their faces smug and proud. And then there are our tiny tenants, the spiders in corners and cockroaches hidden in crevices, these all scurry quickly from my sight.

And in this place, a sigh is freed. A smile is formed. And challenges are met.

Small children show big teeth between parted lips. Besitos accompany all those entering and exiting. And brown eyes gleam with mischief.

Fabian calls me Tia and is exasperated by my failings in the Spanish language. Reyner takes full advantage of my weakness for his slight lisp and long hugs, knowing I will almost always let him have his way…and the majority of my lunch. Julio uses beans to once again add 4 plus 2 while Ana concentrates for the third week in a row on the sounds ma pa la and ta. Cynthia reads like a girl twice her age and Yurly fills me in on the daily gossip. Alicia helps Rebecca with English and Estefani works diligently at a table all to herself. The brain that is Luis finishes his homework at record speed, and then proceeds to make me roll with laughter as he reenacts his fall into a hole as deep as he is tall. Brayan asks a million questions, while Cristofer lifts his face to the hole in the roof and repeats lovingly, me encanta el sol. And Catalina does math practices while rolling her eyes at Maria, who is usually without books and just generally distracted.

This is the Tutoring Center. And it is in this place that, a sigh is freed. A smile is formed. And challenges are met.

At this time in my life I recognize my future to be completely and entirely uncertain. And it is easy to both idealize and question the decisions of my past. But following Coelho, I will be intentional in consistently taking notice and choosing the present. I will recognize the life that is in the desert, the stars that are in the heavens, the beauty that is in a bean sprout and the light that is in every child that sits between those lime green walls.