TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

Almost time to leave this place-for now. 

The knot in my stomach has many causes.  It seems we’ve hardly been here.  It seems we’ve been here forever.  There is much to do when we return home.  Can we manage it all?  Leaving friends and the place we’ve lived and worked in for so long hangs heavy in the air.  Are we doing the right thing? What is it that draws us here?

We have made friends here already, people we’ll be glad to see again.  We have found a lovely, quiet place to live.  We have a sense of what to do once we arrive.  It’s the work to get here that daunts us.  1st-go through the (Hillsborough) house again to figure out what else we can do without.  At some point Strom-White Movers will send a contracted mover to the house to pack everything up to fit in 7x7x4′ crates-hopefully no more than 2.  Once the truck arrives in Ajijic our crates will be stored for up to a month until we’re ready for delivery.  That means packing suitcases with a minimum # of sheets, blankets, towels, toiletries and kitchen utensils to get us through until we can get out to a store.  (We’ve decided-at this point-not to drive a truck across country but will probably fly.) We will have no car initially so will rely on public transportation, Uber (weekdays) and taxis.

After Labor Day we’ll hit the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh for our visas, a complicated process that we’ve yet to clarify.  Late September is Ben’s birthday and retirement so we’ll celebrate with friends. Off to Charlotte for our “Global Entry” interviews to shorten the process of flight check in/out.  Then the mad rush to separate out everything we want to take with us in preparation for our October estate sale.  (Now there’s a bag of mixed feelings!).  We’ll “camp out” in the house for a few weeks after that while we tie up loose ends and say good-bye to friends and family.  Then off we go to Guadalajara and a taxi to La Casa Morado, Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico.

Why? Because we are ready for dramatic change in our lives.  Because it is less expensive here.  Because of the temperate climate there.  Because it is colorful and exotic and interesting.  Because it is a new culture with lots to learn.  To learn to do with less and to slow…down…A few months ago my son asked me how he was to explain to his children that their grandmother lives in Mexico.  I’ll borrow a phrase from a former coworker who thanked her mother for showing her how to “live curiously“.  That’s what I want-to push past my fears, to step outside my comfort zone, my box-to live with curiosity and courage.

The adult who saw me taking this picture corralled these children when he saw what I was doing so they could all be photographed.  Afterward children and mothers gathered round to see the outcome with giggles and smiles.  It made my day!  Another reason to be here.

  Stay tuned! I’ll keep you posted!