If a faucet is dripping three floors away, I can here it. I’m so sensitive to noise and sounds that too much vibration rubs on me like the tip of a nail across a glass. My shoulders tense and I revert to my all-time-favorite-annoying habit of turning into a crabby human.

For example, as I type these exact words, a muchacho - guy - is out in the courtyard sanding away on the exterior wood. Without even knowing it, my left eye starts to close and I crimp my neck back into my spine as the whirrrrrrr wears on me. I try to tune into the cute little water fountain I put in the auspicious corner of my office and enjoy the almost silent dribble of water flowing across the fake rock. Now, the tap tap tap of pounding at the construction site next door chimes in with the sanding.

Once when I was camping alone in the wilderness, the sound of the waves drowned out those voices in my head that warned of the imaginary bear lurking in the woods. When someone whistles a tune or it begins to rain, I immediately relax. There’s a little creature called the common house gecko that skitters up and down walls here. He has this call he chirps out from the back of his throat. The Costa Ricans believe you are lucky if one lives in your house. And, it’s super super lucky to have a white one, which I once did at the beach.

Every morning and every night, my little gecko chirps. It sounds like he’s squeaking and sucking little bubbles in and out of the plastic of a broken balloon. I can’t find the exact letters to mimc this sound, but it washes such peace over me and always reminds me to smile.

At the beach last weekend, a tiny little gecko plopped onto my shoulder. She must have mis-stepped across the beam she was climbing. In a gut reaction (due to a scorpian bite awhile back), I flicked her off me, and she landed on the ground and skittered away. I felt so bad and called to her as she left: Sorry! I hope you’re o.k.

That night, I was restless and tossed in the heat of the night. The little gecko, from somewhere above called out her chirp. I smiled; relaxed; and knew everything was just fine.