Sitting in her rocker, Ruth Hunter recalls trips and vacations that have filled her life and she is surrounded by trinkets from these times. It is not hard to see why a smile is constantly gracing her face as she laughts and settles in for a beautiful tale of when her family hosted a boy from Costa Rica. Shortly after WWII, soldiers developed the "American Field Service" which was a program for Americans to learn about other countries and cultures by having exchange students live with them for a period of time. Ruth and her family did just so. His name was Edwardo, but they affectionately called him "Eddie". He was the youngest child inhis big family and stayed with the Hunter's during his senior year. Over the course of his stay, both he and Ruth's youngest daughter became very close- "like siblings!" Upon his departure, Eddie said that if he were to ever get married, he wanted the Hunter family to attend his wedding in Costa Rica. Flash foward to 1979 when Ruth's husband Walter got a call that Eddie was indeed tying the knot! This was a trip not to miss- Eddie was like a son and he wanted them to join in the celebration. So Ruth, Walter and their youngest, Jane, traveled down to Costa Rica. Jane had taken her violin intending to play at the ceremony but she got a surprise instead by being able to practice with the country's own Symphony! They spent two weeks traveling around Costa Rica and were able to hike to the top of the volcano that had recently erupted to peer down into it. Ruth remembers that it was the only time during the trip that was freezing!
The Hunter family has been able to keep in touch with Edwardo. He has come back to visit and from time to time email's Ruths daughters with pictures of his own family. He even invited Ruth to move down to Costa Rica, she smiled, "He said he would see we were taken care of".
