Category Archives: Things I’ve Learned

A Pig in a Suitcase

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The countdown is ticking loudly and I am not as cool and prepared as I thought I would be.  In fact I am having reactions I would never have expected.  My heart has taken over and my brain is allowing it to happen.  I feel a bit betrayed really by my reasonable, practical self which usually navigates through unknown waters.

We have rescheduled our flight to the 18th to buy ourselves 5 more days.  5 more days to get this construction done, to finalize paperwork and transitions.  A very needed 5 days.  But that 5 days has cost me my sanity somehow.  I have been planning for quite some time exactly what things I need to pack to go with us to the new land.  We took 6 suitcases in October.  2 very stuffed carry-ons (that ended up too big to actually carry on), and 4 giant fifty pound suitcases.  Two were free, the other two cost $25 each.  Perfect.  We put a LOT in those 6 suitcases.  My plan was to take 6 more in December – the rest of our very important ‘stuff’.  We will not be able to take the majority of our belongings until we get our residency which can’t be for at least a year thanks to Mr. Tax Man.  So these last 6 suitcases were to be it for a while.

So back to the tale of the extra 5 days.  We rescheduled our flight – but in doing so we had to switch airlines.  After paying the change fees, the cancellation fees, the who-knows-what fees, we had a new flight scheduled for the 18th.  But in reading the small print of this new airline I realized we cannot take a second bag each, and our first bag can only be 40 pounds.  So we have gone from taking 200 pounds to now only being able to take 80.  Now I have been lecturing/nagging Grant for 2 years that we really don’t need to take much stuff with us – we can buy what we need there.  It will be fun to get new stuff.  To pretend we’re newlyweds again setting up a new home.  But somehow when I was robbed of 120 pounds of my stuff, I seriously freaked out.  I am not kidding when I say that the stuff I was planning to take was really the weirdest combination of stuff ever.  It was not valuable stuff – it was just things I had decided I desperately needed to be okay.  Like 2 short lawn chairs that I may have used twice in my life but that would be great on the beach when we need a picnic.  The green vase that I hardly every use but it would look great in the kitchen.  This very large metal yard pig I had purchased in Vancouver – I absolutely NEEDED that pig in my tiny new yard.  Some totally average candles.  A bunch of shampoo because I can’t read labels in Spanish – and what if I don’t know how to Wash, Rinse, Repeat in Mexico?  The list went on – stuff that I barely use here, that I have never been attached to but that seemed extremely important to my new happiness.  What on earth is wrong with the sensible, practical, not attached to my crap person that I have always been?

Last night some of my dearest friends showed up with Chinese Food and Guacamole and memories to share.  We laughed and reminisced and talked about the sadness of saying goodbye.  We joked about my new suitcase crisis and Grant rolled his eyes at my angst.  But when they left I realized that it is just really hard to let go of those you love.  I don’t want to do it.  To make it hurt a bit less I have been gathering silly possessions around me that I thought would help me feel comfortable in a crazy time of transition.  If I could imagine the perfect sunset picnic with Grant on the yellow lawn chairs, if I could fill an unfamiliar house with pretty flowers in that green vase, if I could see my smiling metal pig when I sat in the yard with my morning coffee maybe I would be okay.   But now I have to let go of that strategy.  My 80 pounds will be taken up with a few months’ supply of vitamins, the last of my summer clothes, some winter clothes for when I travel up north for work in January. Practical stuff.

Pig in a suitcase

Gonna be tight!

There will be little room left for silly sentimental crutches.  And I’ll be okay.  My security has never been in what I own but in the God who has me in His hand.

But don’t be surprised if Mr. Pig somehow makes the cut – I haven’t fully given up!

Towels and Propane Make a Home

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In August we nailed down our home for the upcoming year and I immediately began nesting in my head. I began to dream about how to turn the house into our home. It is a semi-furnished house and although the furniture isn’t exactly my style or favorite color, I’m grateful we don’t have to furniture shop quite yet. No, I was thinking about towels. Somehow I had the idea in my head that the house would be our home when we had correct towels. With that in mind I convinced my husband we needed a quick trip in October to ‘set up the house’ – by which I meant buy towels. He didn’t really get it “Don’t we have a lot of towels here – can’t we just throw a few of them in our suitcase?” My look gave him my answer. So we headed down to Bucerias for a week in October to get the house ready for our family’s arrival in December.

We spent the week shopping for house stuff and checking out as many local taco stands as possible. But we also knew we needed to start the difficult process of dealing with Mexican utility companies. We had heard many crazy stories and expected it to be time consuming and difficult – but we were ready. Our hot water and our stove is fueled by propane – and our rooftop propane tank was completely dry when we arrived. The first two days we had cold showers – which actually felt amazingly good – and you know I wasn’t looking to cook. But on the third day we decided we better get some propane in the tank. So we waited ….. and we listened….. and eventually we heard the sound we were expecting and needing. The Gas truck guy driving around screaming out of his loudspeaker to let the neighborhood know he had GAS. So I in turn screamed for Grant who went running out the door in pursuit of Gas Guy. Turns out Gas Guy only delivers tanks – doesn’t actually fill tanks, so he made a phone call and told us someone would be there in una hora – one hour. Now I definitely didn’t expect someone to arrive in an hour – I thought maybe 3 days – but we hung around for the afternoon unpacking the weird green dishes we had bought and 4 hours later we heard a big truck outside the house. Impressive really. Of course there was no possibility of English so we used our Spanglish Charade language and voila! we had propane! Gas Fill Guy gave me his card and told me at least 10 times to call him next time I need gas. I wasn’t so sure why he was being so insistent about that – but I realized why quickly. Within the next 15 minutes we had 2 other Gas company trucks arrive at our doorstep – apparently the word was out on the streets that Gringos were looking for gas. The utility company version of beach vendors!

So that went much better than expected. Next is phone and internet. Our gracious friend Fredy is helping us set that up and yesterday he emailed to say we are on a waiting list as phones lines are limited in Bucerias right now. He says we are waiting for a window of opportunity – I picture Grant chasing Phone Truck Guy down the street to crack that window open.

And as for those towels? Every room has soft grey towels ready for use and our bedroom even has the matching bath mat! How homey is that?

30 Days and Counting

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CalendadrAs we enter the final 30 day countdown to liftoff, I feel a shift in my heart and in my mind.  This is happening.  Soon.  I am sad and I am overwhelmingly happy.  I am nervous and I am increasingly bold.  I want to stay but mostly I want to go.  That is what makes life worth living – the mixture of emotions and confusion of thoughts when change is around the corner.   I see similar emotions in the eyes of my friends and family – they want to be excited for us but are not sure they should be, or can be.  Change in one person affects the whole community – and honestly the community didn’t really ask for this change.  The hardest part of this last stage is that I feel I need to focus on the details of such a move – how is my mail going to find me?  Who’s going to pay for my medical needs?  What color towels will make my bathroom homey?  Why on earth did I ever buy this many Wii games and how many can I reasonably pack?  How do we get this house ready to sell?  But I worry that what I should be doing is spending these last days with the people who I love and who are really unsure about what we are doing.  Oh I know we’ll be back lots in the first year – and I have Skype and Google Hangout loaded on my computers and phones, ready to beep and buzz my way back into people’s lives.  But I know it will not be the same – and I don’t really know quite how to process that now that we have entered the pre-liftoff stage.