Time to fish – or cut bait

It’s time to fish or cut bait, in more ways than one. We’ve come to that decision period. We’re either all in or all out. None of this one foot over the line stuff (or am I mixing up that phrase?) If we’re staying in Mexico, we need to plan to stay at least 10 years. We have sold our Island house, some months ago. Our ties to Canada right now, other than being residents for tax purposes and all the financials which I guess is a lot but none of it is really tangible – anyhow, that and a storage locker are everything we have in Canada.

We love Mexico. And if we do go all in, that doesn’t mean we’ll never go back to Canada. One day, maybe we’ll have houses in both places but for now, it’s not affordable, at least not the houses we want. So it will have to be either/or for now.

If we went back, it would be back to Vancouver Island and I’m not sure what we’d do. There is that organic business but it’s on the shelf – and I don’t need to be there for that, anyway. We’d both be bored to death up there right now. The kids, as usual, are traveling a lot and while we would almost certainly see them a little more, it wouldn’t be a lot more. We have friends on the Island but surely we can convince them to come to Mexico. Maybe in February when it’s rainy and cool. And we could visit them in the summer.

I guess it comes down to friends and family. And that goddamn thrift store – the best I ever found with the exception of the San Antonio shop. And the Ladies Aux. in Galveston was pretty decent, too. Especially when they put their evening dress section (mostly prom and bridesmaid) on for $1 a dress. I’d buy a few with really lux material and use the skirt portion as a Christmas tree skirt. I think I still have a couple. But there I go, digressing again.

If we stay, I’ll have to learn Spanish (I’ll go to school five days a week until I can speak it) and I’ll have to find a business to start. We’ll ship most of our storage locker down in that case. Including those $1 Christmas tree skirts. We’ll buy another house, I imagine, having sold our Vancouver Island house. And figure out what to do. I don’t know what kind of a business it would be. My friend and astrologer Georgia Nicols said I would be settled down (like seriously settled down) by 2017. And here we are, six months (and a bit) away. She also said she saw me opening a Buddha shop. I always tried to picture it in San Miguel but never got there. I could so do that, if I didn’t have to be in the store (I’d need a manager). Online is really more my style.

You’re probably wondering where we would go if we stayed in Mexico. The choices we identified are: San Miguel, because it’s gringo easy and there are views; Lake Chapala, because it’s gringo easy and there are views; Mexico City because it is big and vibrant and awesome but we can’t really afford dog space in the urban center; Cuernavaca because it has views and an almost perfect climate and it’s an hour from Mexico City (plus it is a city in itself so has those things a city has like Krispy Kreme doughnut delivery). You can tell where we’re leaning.

We’re still not getting any younger. There will be plenty of time to go back to Canada when we’re older. It’s so incredibly simple to get anywhere from the Mexico City airport – there is almost a direct flight to everywhere in the world. We don’t change planes anymore. Those days are long over. But I digress. I haven’t felt like I was “all-in” in Mexico since we sold our house in San Miguel. Well, since before that. Since we moved in and found out how things worked in that little fiefdom.

But I’ve been through all that  – and it’s history, water under the bridge, spilled milk, blah, blah, blah. My reconciling with that nasty period of time pretty much happened when we sold the house, But I think it’s important for me to understand that I really haven’t been “all-in” since then.

It’s hard to be all-in when we rent. We have been trying to test out  Mexico City, in our defense for renting yet again. The last time we bought in Mexico, the location was an issue, so we wanted to be sure before we plop ourselves down for what we hope will be a decade. Yes, a decade. All of our wandering has been searching for the best place. Now it’s time to fish or cut bait. Stay tuned.By the next blog, we’ll have the answer. (Where do you think we should go?)

In the meantime, I’ve been to Vancouver Island and back. Visited a few friends and sorted out some business. Had a bit of an adventure. Our friends L&R have a fantastic boat they just bought and they keep her at the local marina (two bedrooms, two bathrooms, it’s truly a killer boat) – and sleep there most summer nights. I was going to stay in the house (she works from home, so comes back up every morning before 6 and we had smoothies and a visit).

First night, we had spaghetti on the boat and I headed back up. Got the key from it’s hiding spot, went in, said hi to the bird, turned the tv on and opened a beer, closed the curtains. Decided to go out to the back deck to check it out before it got fully dark –  they’ve done a marvelous job with a new water feature but I’ve only seen photos.

As soon as the door closed behind me, I knew I was in trouble. My car keys, my phone, the house key – all inside. My shoes, inside. My money – inside (I have one five-dollar bill in my pocket). The marina is a few miles up the highway, it’s 9:30 at night, almost dark and a little chilly. The temperature has sucked on the Island lately, easily going to 50F (10C) at night. I have a long sleeve -tshirt on, thank heavens. I can’t go to the neighbors because R’s cell phone number is on my cell phone inside the house. I did check the windows – tight as a drum.

There is some patio furniture on the back deck under the pergola with the grapes, but the cushions are all against the wall under the eaves (it’s been a rainy period, I gather). So, I figure I’ll lie on some cushions, and put the other cushions on top of me if I get cold and Bob’s your uncle. But then it starts to rain. Just a drizzle, but I can see where this is going. I sit up on the furniture. Am I going to have to spend the night standing up under the eaves? Please, no. Why did I lock the car? Wait – there’s a front porch – I forgot! Saved!

After thinking I might have to stand up in the rain all night, this was like a luxury hotel suite. See those sneakers in the bottom right corner? I had bare feet – so I put those on. I brought some big square cushions from the back, too. I pulled the chairs over and made a fort. And curled up and fell asleep within the hour. Sound asleep.

I woke up about 5 am (almost normal for me) when the traffic started picking up a bit and the sun just started to come up. Meditated til close to six and then my friend arrived (horrified!) and we had smoothies. It really wasn’t that bad – it’s all perspective, no? It was a lot better than the evening I first envisioned. And I was dry.

And the last adventure on that trip was The Beast (below). I rode this. The power of grandchildren (it wasn’t that bad, actually). I leave you with that thought.

And next time, I’ll have the big news! Orale!