The Rains Came Down and The Floods Came Up

I was asked the other day why I don’t walk around taking pictures of things in Gracias. The answer is two fold. I don’t take pictures around Gracias because this is my town, my neighbors, the people I live along side. I don’t want to be seen as a tourist or embarrass the people of Gracias. The second reason is because it all seems very normal to me now. When I walk with people who don’t live here and I begin to see the odd things all over again but usually seeing 4 people on one motorcycle just seems normal. That being said, sometimes we have experiences that are not normal- even here. Today was one of those days. We were in town running some errands and the rains came down and down and down. When it rains a lot the streets turn into a little river but I still needed to go to the store. Emma and I ran from one store to the next in the little river through town and then suddenly I realized I was missing something. The river had torn the bottom of my flipflop off, leaving only the part that goes between my toes. Did I chase what was left of my shoe down? No. Did Shannon chase it down for me? No, he took my picture.