NEW VOYAGINGS

As a bird soars high

In the free holding of the wind,

Clear of the certainty of ground,

Opening the imagination of wings

Into the grace of emptiness

To fulfill new voyagings,

May your life awaken

To the call of its freedom.

                     John O’Donohue

Each day of this journey has brought new challenges, new contacts, new adventures.  We have already learned to live with so little!  The drive to have MORE in our country has been replaced by our willingness to have LESS.  One more day to go…

Family members picked up both cars today.  (Who knew that giving up my car would be such a blow.  Remember my license plate has said “LETTINGO” for years now.  Little did I know.)   Ben’s cousin bought our couch.  Tomorrow another cousin will pick up the mattress, TV & coffee table.  We’re down to scatter rugs, folding chairs & borrowed tables. The food that’s left will go to neighbors-much has already gone to the needy.  Funny how many small items you end up with-toothpaste, bag clips, lotion, scissors/pens, refrigerator magnets, Epsom salts…our suitcases are already full so these things will be left for the renters or thrown away.  We did last minute clean up of the yard this week & moved 2 bookcases out to our new garage storage units.  We’ve called in address changes & stopped mailings.  Done a little cleaning.

We took a break Thanksgiving afternoon to have dinner with friends & their family-4 generations together.  It was delightful.  Thanks Pat & Phil!  Ben’s accountant came Friday & finished up with him for now.  All along there’ve been meals with friends, phone calls & emails wishing us well.  We do not say goodbye.  Only see you later.

I woke this morning thinking of all the reasons we want to move to Mexico.  The maintenance of our place in Hillsborough is more than we want to manage now.  We want a slower life, less expensive.  We want a new adventure, new things to learn.  We love the people & the colors & the weather.  But there were 3 layers to this move, not 1 or 2.  I don’t recommend it.  Not only have we been focusing on clearing out the house, getting visas, etc.  But there was also the layer of unexpected (long delayed-“we can live with that”) house repairs.  And the complexity of Ben shutting down his 40 year business.  Retiring is stressful in itself & though it’s been pretty easy for me so far, for him it is much more complicated.  I recall saying earlier this year-why don’t we wait until Spring? Let you settle into retirement a little first.  Nope.  Getting older.  Gotta go.  It has all taxed us to-no, beyond our limits.  But I feel strong, steady & confident now after organizing so much of the move & making more decisions than I’ve ever made in a such a short period of time.  Though it is bittersweet to leave dear ones behind, I am ready to go.

Tomorrow we’ll turn in our car tags & stop our insurance, zip up our suitcases & hitch a ride with our wonderful renter Christine to a motel in Raleigh.  A decision made to save a little time & angst in light of having to be at the airport @ 4:30AM on Tuesday.  It’ll be a different kind of flight this time…we have Global Entry now (+TSA-Prior Approval) & we’ll only show our passports at RDU.  In Guadalajara we’ll have to show our Mexican visas for the first time.  If we forget & travel as tourists (familiar with the declaration forms they have you fill out on the plane?), we’ll lose our visas & have to start all over!  No thanks.

We arrive in Guadalajara early afternoon where a new friend will meet us & take us to our Mexican home.  Our weekly housekeeper Chayo (chi-oh) has been going in all along so hopefully everything will be intact.  We’ll schedule the arrival of our crated household goods from our movers ASAP.  December 1 we’ll go to a lawyer to begin the process for completing our visa status at the immigration office in nearby Chapala.  We have 30 days to do that-or we have to start all over!  Next task will be to find a second mattress & some porch furniture.  We’ll call a taxi or Uber to take us to buy food at some of the little tiengas on the caraterra (main street through town).  Eventually we’ll buy a car but the bus stop is only 3 blocks away & part of our MO is to use fewer resources.  It will be a new experience for us.

We signed up for internet & a landline while there in August but we’ll see how that goes.  At some point we’ll set up cellphone service but meanwhile we’ll do limited texts & calls.  If you are so inclined you can set up Whats App on your cellphone & we can connect for free.  We’ll have snail mail out of Laredo, TX so if you want that address just send me an email. So we’re off!  And we thank all of you who have helped us in so many ways through this time of tremendous upheaval & change.

After seemingly endless weeks of chores, phone calls, visitors, buyers, repairmen on a near daily basis, I am tired but, gratefully, have hit a state of calm, of grace.  This journey has so far been a challenge and an opportunity for growth.  Not unlike giving birth: extreme difficulty leaving you with life changing results.  Stepping away from fears, old habits & routines.  A fresh start.

Hasta luego mis amigos!  Nos vemos en Mexico!