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Neighborly New Year's Inspiration
By kellirhea in Quixotic Quicksand
January 2, 2006

Have you ever been to Boca Chica State Park? It’s a public beach near Brownsville, Texas, and it’s farther south than South Padre Island. It’s right on the delta of the Rio Grande. My husband and I visited this beach a while back. It was an awe-inspiring experience, to say the least.

Upon our arrival we drove down the beach, and then we got out and played in the tide awhile. As we frolicked about like children, we noticed the water that was getting in our eyes and mouths was not stingingly salty, as it usually is, but brackish instead. That is when we looked down the beach a few yards and realized where we were swimming: in the Rio Grande delta itself. Those people I saw on my right, they were in Mexico. Whoa! I thought to myself.

We got out of the water and walked toward our neighboring country. We got as far as we could and paused to feel things previously unfelt. A few yards away, I was looking at la Frontera Norte, El Estado de Tamaulipas. The Mexicans looked at us with less-than-concerned expressions as we stood in the blackish sand, jaws slightly opened in amazement.

I wish I was eloquent enough to describe precisely what I felt at that moment. All I can say is that I felt smaller, less important, humbled. Sure, you can cross the border at several Free Trade Zones, but this...this was different. No Border Patrol (none visible, anyway), no bridges or toll booths, no peddlers carrying hammocks or boxes of chicle. Just a narrow passage of murky water between us and them. It was so quiet, so serene.

As I turned to walk away, I felt Mexico's strong presence almost massaging me. It was as though I could feel it beckoning me as its hands braced my back. As of that moment, my curiosity was piqued, and I have to keep asking myself, Why do I want so badly the things I cannot have? Why do I yearn to travel to all the places I am not equipped to go? I am certain I will answer my neighbor's call with another visit soon enough.

Therefore, my New Year’s resolution is to find barriers and cross them, and challenge myself, whenever it’s feasible. I will equip myself with the means necessary to explore and to learn and to be a better individual.