Time Capsule of a Costa Rican Kidnapping

My wife said she couldn't live in the US anymore. She wanted to return with our three young children to her native Costa Rica (where we had met). We had planned on returning, she just wanted to leave first. I am a Stephen Covey guy. I believe if you love someone you allow them the freedom to find their happiness. I am also a student of Joseph Campbell and believe all our journeys are that of the hero and that we must follow our bliss. I put my principles to the test. And that has made all the difference. I started a journal that turned into a book, a "Time-Capsule Memoir," to protect my story from the lazy memory of historical revisionism; the writing has since laid waste to blame. The book serves as a vehicle of self-recovery for those who have suffered loss and find themselves rebuilding a life from knee deep among the ashes. My journey affirms the perfection of the universe, where amid prolonged personal disaster, a life worth celebrating emerges and dreams become reality in ways we never imagined.

John P. Murphy, a certified teacher and principal, has lived and worked for 14 years as an urban and international teacher in Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Cairo, Istanbul, the Caribbean, Costa Rica and Mexico. He lives in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, where he loves, writes, reads, surfs, runs, swims, paints and chases butterflies.