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Its easy to see why people love the beach

The water and the sand act as perfect metaphors for depth of human uncertainty

So it is clear why people feel at home amongst salty waves and sunburns

However it is not easy to understand why people love each other

There is no certainty in freckles that come and go like the clouds

And there is no promise in tear-stained cheeks like there is in water stained beaches

So I may never understand why people continue to fall for others the way the tide continues to fall against the sand

But I have watched children love each other with more restless abandon than a storm stricken sea

I have watched them lend each other their secrets and share the weights of their burdens as if 19 days were actually infinity

And I have seen them laugh in the face of troubles that hang higher in the sky than rainforest full moons

Kids exchange heartbeats the way the rest of the world trades currency

And I am finally beginning to grasp the strength of human connection

I feel it in rapids that twist like braids down tan bucks

And in full tents on concrete floors that share zero resemblance to rolling ocean currents

I’ve seen these kids triumph in spite of sunburns and spider bites time and time again

And while I have always been too afraid to lease out my heart to anything other than mountains that never yield under my hands

I have now met kids that place their lives not only in the haunting fingers of the ocean, but in the relentless grasps of human nature

So they give away their guns and every ounce of reason to pull the trigger

And I do the same and just wait for them to hate me

But they don’t 

Because they don’t know how

And in these 19 days that has taught me almost too much about the way humanity dips and spins

I have been caught in a three-step rhythm beating senselessly against my ribcage

And I can now waltz with life the way lovers dance on their wedding night

It is the beat of paint brushes on wood, paddles in water, and rain on metal roofs

It is the number of times you open and close your eyes before finally falling asleep in a hotel room shared with 2 other kids

And it is the count of the last wave you fall sown on before being able to stand up on your board

I watch these people learn to dance not just with each other but with themselves and everything that scares them

I have seen plenty of love in my life:

I have seen mothers love their children, brothers love their sisters, and friends tell each other to put their seatbelts on

I have seen kids worship the snowcapped mountains and sun crested waves that raised them

And I have seen married couples love each other only because they’re supposed to

But I myself never learned to grasp the concept, because everyone you love will leave you

But in this tiny Latin American country I have witnessed more love than I ever believed possible

In teenagers from all over country that came together to share band aids and toothpaste and sunscreen

And I have realized that while it is easy to love the ocean, even the sea slides way sometimes

But it never fails to return to kiss its sandy counterpart to human consciousness

So the most important lesson I’ve learned is that kids love with reckless ferocity more intense than a storming sea

They share their freckles and uncertainty that come and go like the clouds

Together they are a million broken promises and even more broken rules

Their presence waivers like the seasons or the phases of the moon and sometimes they get lost in their own heads

But the promise they keep is to never stop loving each other

The way the tide never stops washing across the shore

So while it is hard to understand why people continue to love each other, falling in love with you guys has made it almost a bit easier

--Emily M