Departure Date Has Finally Arrived

Me, happy as a clam in Mexico

Today I leave my home in Mexico and travel to Portland, Oregon. I promised to house sit for my son and daughter-in-law while they are on a trip to India. I hate thinking about going to the COLD weather but I am also looking forward to seeing my family again. This is the longest length of time I have stayed in Mexico, over a year. I haven't gone anywhere except for a day trip or two. It is partly due to breaking my ankle. That kept me close to home for many months and it still isn't completely healed. One reason I am dreading the cold weather is that I am thinking it will make all my broken parts hurt. Like the wrist that I fractured a few years ago, and my bad knee and now my ankle. I will just have to deal with all those aches and pains. Life goes on..... We get old and we hurt....

I ran into a friend yesterday who is just returning for the winter. He goes back to the States part of each year. He took me out to lunch and it was great fun, catching up with everything. For the past four years he has taken me out for Thanksgiving and sometimes for Christmas too.   He told me that we have both been here for five years. It is a little over five years for me  because I arrived the evening of the Day of the Dead which has just past.  Time flies when you are having fun.

Yesterday morning I went to the hot springs and swam. I floated in the water and looked up at the beautiful blue sky.  When I start getting tense on this trip today I will try to bring back that relaxed feeling again.  Transitions are hard on me. Traveling is hard on me. I will try not to worry about all the bad things that can happen and focus on the step by step things that have to be done.

I have a couple of good books to read. That should distract my mind from wondering into negative places.

I found an interesting book at the library book sale the other day. I had read it several years ago and I was very impressed with it. It is titled Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert.  He writes about what makes people happy. Surprising things about how our minds work. These have been scientifically studied so they, hopefully, are reliable theories. One theory is about how we get used to things.

Let's say that you have just moved to Ajijic, for instance, and you have fallen in love with it. You are in a kind of heaven. I call it a pink cloud. But after awhile you get used to it. You take it for granted. You fall out of the pink cloud and return to your everyday state of mind, the one you were in before you arrived here.

Then you leave for awhile. When you come back you see it again with new eyes. Variety keeps things fresh. It is impossible to pretend that it is the first time for you. Once you experience something and you have that knowledge you can't NOT have that knowledge again. You will not look at this place with the same eyes you had the first time but you will have a fresher vision.  That is what I am hoping for when I return.  A fresher vision.....

I will keep writing on the blog when I am in Portland. I know it is going to be strange for me to be in huge box stores and riding in fast moving cars on the busy freeways.  I will try to see the States with fresher eyes, since I have been gone a year.....