Morning Thoughts-- The Chaise Lounge

I am still sick with a cough. I thought that I was well enough yesterday to go to the spa. I spent some time in the underground steam room, thinking that would clear out my chest. But then I woke up in the night coughing again. I am trying not to get too depressed. I hate to be sick.

A few days ago our (Chico's and mine) favorite chaise lounge broke. I fell to the ground while I was in it. This is a very special chair that I dragged down on the airplane from the States when I first arrived here. I think that was seven years ago. So for seven years Chico and I have sat on this chair. If he was sleeping on it and I came along, he would jump down and let me sit on it and then he would jump up into my lap. I took it out to the yard almost everyday. I spent many hours on it when I broke my ankle and was stuck here for three months. Needless to say, Chico and I love this Chaise Lounge and we were lost without it.

I bought it at a yard sale in the States for two dollars. It is the best two dollars I have ever spent. I had seen similar ones in Costco in Guadalajara. They cost over a hundred dollars but I was desperate to replace it. The Lake Chapala Society bus goes there once a month or so for a little less than twenty dollars. I was planning on buying a ticket and taking that trip for this major purchase.

I had tried to repair it myself. I had restrung it already three times but this fix was too complicated for me. It involved broken metal.  I also knew that if I were to throw it in the garbage outside it would have been gone within minutes and fixed by one of the local Mexican families. So I asked my landlord's maid. Within half an hour a Mexican man was at my door. He took it and half an hour later it was back, fixed. He charged me twenty dollars. Chico and I are happy once again in our comfort zone.

I love this about Mexico. It is a fix it country. I use the following example of the differences between the States and Mexico: In the States it is possible to find a nice used bike in a yard sale for two dollars but it would easily cost sixty dollars to have it fixed up. Here, a nice used bike in a yard sale would cost at least sixty dollars but could be fixed up for two.    Nothing is wasted here. If a Mexican throws something away, you can be sure that it isn't fixable.

Today, even though I am too sick to get out and do things, I once again have my special chaise lounge so I can enjoy the sunshine and the birds in my yard. I never even got that man's name. He was in and out, like superman. Mr. Fix it. Thank you.

 I grew up going to the dump with my father. He would take a dump load and bring back one, filled with things he would fix up.... I loved those times. (My mother hated them. She always complained about the junk he brought back. ) This is my kind of country where nothing ever goes to waste.