Stuff happens…We’re injured…

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This is how the steps collapsed under our feet.

It was Thursday this week, the night of our anniversary. We came back to our villa after a lovely dinner to relax and enjoy the windy, bug free evening. It was 8:30 PM. 

Opening the wide sliding glass door, the  powerful ocean breezes rushed in filling our living room with the fresh scent of the ocean and the thick evening humidity, pleasing to our senses. 

Suddenly, I remembered that I’d left out a few kitchen towels to dry on the canvas lounge chair on the veranda. With the strong winds, I suggested to Tom that we venture outside to collect the towels and check out the status of the surf which wildly crashed in front of us.

Corner view of broken steps.

Still in our casual and comfortable dinner clothing as depicted in yesterday’s post with our anniversary photo, with me in flat sandals, we meandered out to the veranda in awe of the wind. The kitchen towels were about to blow away with one of them already on the ground. I grabbed two. Tom, gentleman that he is, grabbed the one askew on the ground.

Taking my hand, he led to off the wooden steps. As my foot hit the top step, a thought flashed through my mind, “Oh, I didn’t realize these sandals were wobbly.” I’d worn them many times and their flat arch support heels provided a stable step.  I don’t drink alcohol so I certainly wasn’t teetering.

Within a second, we were falling, crashing, banging.  In an instant, I found myself saying over and over, “Oh, my God!  Oh, my God!” On my way down, I hit my head on the strewn about wood, as the stairs broke apart, collapsing under us, then hit me mid-back and then…my tailbone. “Oh, my God,” I muttered again. Tom had also fallen. Immediately, our attention turned to one another.

Left view of the steps where we fell.
He’d cut and bruised his right shin, droplets of blood seeping through his white pants, one of the few white pants he wears on the cruise ships. How will I get the blood out, I thought, good laundress that I am, without a washer?

Lying in a pile atop the crumbled stairs, as Tom nervously gather me in his arms, I immediately assessed my situation,  My first thought, “Can I move my legs?” Yes, I can.  “Can I turn and move my torso?”  Yes, I can.  “Can I get up?” With Tom’s arms gently coaxing me to a standing position, I stood up. We went inside to assess our injuries.

Tom’s right shin was scraped and bruised, comparable to the knee scrapes we experienced as kids from falling off of our bikes.  No broken bones, no stitches required. My injuries were less obvious having banged my head, my mid-back and my tail bone on the jutting chunks of collapsed wood on the way down.

I could walk, I could bend, I could twist. There were no cuts, no obvious signs of injuries. Hopefully, I thought, my injuries would result in severe bruising. 

Should this accident have occurred at a resort in the US, ambulances would have been called, staff would have gathered around and perhaps, one might have contacted an attorney. The steps broke under two normal weight individuals.

Side view of steps.

We could have easily notified the security guard or the restaurant staff. Instead, we chose to tend to our injuries notifying management in the morning. These steps were for our exclusive use and could easily wait until morning. Most certainly, the salty air and intense humidity, rotted the wood and lessened the hold by the nails. We blame no one. 

Tom fashioned an inventive ice pack for me and I parked myself on the not-so-comfy sofa after taking two Aleve, for the remainder of the evening.  Without a doubt, we were both worried. Would my condition worsen over the night or the next few days? 

Much to my surprise I slept through the night, carefully lying on my side with a pillow propped up against my back to avoid turning over. Awakening at 6 am, the first thought in my mind was the frightening fall and secondly, the food I was yet to prepare for our share of the upcoming Minnesota Pot Luck Dinner with our Minnesota neighbors on either side of us. 

I didn’t feel up to cooking but decided that standing for 10 to 15 minutes at a time would do more good than harm while I’d take a break from the ice pack. Neither the sofa or nor the chairs in our villa provide good back support to warrant sitting for an extended period.

Tom helped in the kitchen and the time breezed by. By 10:30 am, we had most of the food prepared.  We decided it was time to inform management of our “accident” and the necessity of repairing the collapsed stairs. 

Of course, the conscientious staff was highly concerned and anxious to tend to our needs.  We only asked that they launder Tom’s bloody pants and repair the steps. Later in the day, Tom’s meticulously laundered and ironed pants were returned.

Within a matter of minutes, workers appeared at our villa to attend to the repairs.  With the loud noise of the hammering and pounding we decided to sit by the pool. Another gorgeous day was calling to us. 

Gingerly positioning myself on the un-padded lounge chair by the pool, I knew I wouldn’t last long. The cool water of the unheated pool provided some relief but less than an hour later, we walked back to our villa, determined to park myself with ice on the padded lounge chair on the veranda until it was time to shower and dress for the party. The workers were still pounding. We didn’t care. 

We were pleased with management’s handling of the situation. They were both respectful and very concerned, again checking with us over the next 48 hours.  There’s nothing more we would have asked of them.

On the way back to our villa, I dropped my smartphone on the cement cracking the screen in several places.

Having only purchased the no-contract phone for about $900 in December and now unable to easily read the Kindle app at night in bed, my heart sank.  My phone had been a constant companion while reading by the pool, the veranda or sitting in the chairs on the beach outside our door. Still able to receive a WiFi signal on our phones without a contract, I’d also been able to easily use Skype on my phone as discussed in the Skype post of several days ago.

Tom, bless his patient demeanor said nary a word, other than, “Don’t worry, lover. We’ll figure it out.” Gosh, I’m traveling the world with the right guy!

The remainder of the day whisked by and suddenly we realized it was time to get ready for the party.  Feeling better from the ice, the rest and the Aleve, I was confident we could go and have a good time.

It was not only a good time but a great time. The laughter, the chatter, the Minnesota stories got my mind off of my aching body. The drinks, the food, the ambiance in their lovely “owned” villa, found us all in a frenzy of endless story telling. We had a blast! 

Our new Minnesota friends kindly offered to mail my phone to a repair shop in the US when they return on March 22nd. I graciously declined, not wanting to impose. But after careful consideration, we came up with a plan. Maybe we would take them up on their generous offer.

Here’s our idea:
1.  Find a reputable smart phone screen repair company online.  Contact them alerting them that my phone will be arriving the week of March 23-30 for repair.
2.  Prepay by credit card for the repairs.
3.  Place the phone in a padded envelope with the repair company’s address.
4.  Give our Minnesota friends postage to mail our phone to the repair company.
5.  Instruct the repair company to rush the order, mailing it our mailing service…to go into the box being shipped to us for pickup on April 13th in Miami when our ship arrives.

This should work regarding the phone.  As for me, we’re hoping my injuries will resolve in a week or so, bringing me back to my former feeling-well self, cheerful, joyful without a worry in the world. 

In the interim, there’s no doubt that we’re guarded. Today, its more tender than yesterday, not uncommon in bruising injuries. I sit here, as we “speak” Tom’s nifty ice pack in tow, which he thoughtfully adjusts every 20 minutes or so, from my back to my neck to my tailbone.

Ah, yes.  _ _ _ _ happens!  Everywhere we go, there we are. We take with us, wherever we may be, all of life’s challenges, mishaps, heartbreaks and sorrows. No one is exempt. 

The difference for some, is the ability to tap into one’s well of strength and determination along with an innate desire to carry on.  I can only hope and pray that no matter what we encounter on our journey, that we’ll continue to strive for that strength and determination.

Be well, my friends.

Photos from a walk…Living life on our terms…Our anniversary was yesterday on the 7th…

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Our waiter took our anniversary photo last night after dinner. 

As we’ve mentioned in past posts, we don’t have transportation while in Placencia Belize. We made a hard decision when we moved to Laru Beya on February 5, 2013. With the cost of our rental doubling for two remaining months that we’re here and a budget staring us in the face, we opted to only rent a vehicle as needed.

Palm fronds we discovered on a walk yesterday.
So far, other than the one week in early February that we buzzed around in a rented golf cart at $350 per week, we’ve managed just fine much to our mutual surprise. We thought we’d feel trapped. We don’t.
These are obviously fake cactus used to light the road at night. See the orange one on the left.
Our resort has golf carts, motorbikes and cars available if we need one on a moment’s notice. Most likely, later in the month, we’ll rent a car to explore some of the surrounding villages after heading to the capital city of Belmopan where we’ll extend our visas for the final time.  Its an hour and a half drive north of us.
Local sculpture.  We often see variations of this style.
Without a doubt, there is a huge temptation as one travels the world (from our limited experience thus far) to splurge to fuel one’s perception of what a “vacation” looks like with frequent siteseeing expeditions.  Most of these outings in this remote area require guides resulting in fees upwards of $300 for the two us for a five to six hour day trip.  Some are more.
Another lighted fake cactus next to another local sculpture.
We’re not on vacation. We’re living in foreign lands. When we lived in Minnesota, we seldom visited any of the local “tourist” attractions after our kids grew up. Who does unless one has out of town company or on an outing with grandchildren?
Sculpture of cactus plant.
When we designed our budget, a process that continued over a period of many months, we created a plan that, health providing could last us for the remainder of our lives leaving our investments and savings in tact.  Should we vary from the plan, everything changes.  Suddenly, we could begin depleting our resources. 
Locally crafted painted working fountain.
Remembering our motto, “Wafting Through Our Worldwide Travels with Ease, Joy and Simplicity” we carefully map out our finances to stay within the budget, compensating from one month to the next should we unintentionally vary as we did when making a decision to move to Laru Beya. 
Locally painted sign advertising Sweet Mama’s Restaurant.  Notice the wood French fries
in the in the wood basket on the upper left side of the sign.  Cute.
We only dine out twice a week now (ordering whatever we’d like), cooking in the remainder of the time.  We don’t get massages and spa treatments.  I do my own manicures and pedicures and now Tom is considering having me cut his hair. Yikes. We don’t have to go that far!
We’ve learned to re-use items we may have tossed in our old lives.  We hand wash our underwear, bathing suits and tee shirts.  We don’t order beverages when we sit by the pool.  When cooking we increase our bang for the buck by making enough to last another night, thus reducing our cost.
We don’t dine in the “extra charge” restaurants while on cruises or purchase beverage packages that can run up to $800 per person per cruise.  The only beverages we purchased aboard ship are those with our dinner, one or two cocktails for Tom, iced tea for me (for which there’s no charge). 
We had a small 3″ cactus plant like this in Minnesota in a south window. 
grew 1″ in 26 years. This plant is about 3-4 feet in diameter. 
If we purchased the cruise beverage packages with an average of eight cruises per year, we’d spend an extra $10,000 per year or more.  If we purchased the excursions on the cruises, we’d spend another $10,000 per year.  It changes everything.  It takes out the “ease, joy and simplicity” we so much relish in our new way of living.  We’d rather spend our money on no less than a balcony stateroom for extra space and comfort than on extra charges we don’t really need.
Is this mindfulness difficult?  Do we feel deprived?  Not at all. Especially when its attached to the reality that we can go on forever if our health holds up and if we so choose. 
We’d rather generously tip our maid Gloria, our server, our cab driver and all the Gloria’s and Estevan’s we’ve yet to meet than take a one day outing where all the tourists rightfully go while on their much deserved once or twice a year vacation.
Living our lives on our terms. Everyday may not be an exciting adventure. It may be only a walk along the road, enjoying the local art and culture.
It truly is a splendid life.                          

What did we do in the past 24 hours?…

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Today, during our usual walk along the beach, we took this photo of the sprawling dock at Robert’s Grove Resort, located next door to our home at Laru Beya Resort in Placencia, Belize.  We find ourselves enjoying the resort next door’s four restaurants and health club.

We’re not on vacation. We’re living our daily lives in a manner not dissimilar to other retired couples, wherever they may live, wherever we may live.

Most days, we don’t awake to a day of planned activities as vacationers often do, ensuring every moment is filled with “getting your money’s worth.”  Usually, we plan an outing once a week or less, weather permitting.   

Dinner at Robert’s Grove Resort again last night, their usual Saturday night barbeque. Along with this scrumptiously prepared pig, there was all you can eat jumbo shrimp, crab legs, grilled red snapper, barbeque chicken, and a wide array of salads.  Dessert was homemade eclairs and Bananas Foster. I didn’t try any.  Tom couldn’t resist. 

Our intention, from the beginning of our planning for this many year’s long travel experience, was to live in an area for one to five months, exploring at our leisure, embracing its people and its culture, leaving behind any feeling of urgency, stress or a lengthy list of “must do’s.” 

We knew that ultimately this state of mind would ensure our ongoing happiness and contentment.  It has.

Arising early as do most seniors, the first thing item on the agenda after starting the coffee is to open the floor-length shades and sliding door to inspect the nature of the day, letting the fresh warm air fill our senses. It’s beautiful, almost every day.  A cold spell came through the past few days with temperatures in the 70’s with a bit of rain off and on. Today, cool, windy, and clear.  Perfect.

Wearing bathing suits all day, washing them with us in the shower each night before dinner, keeps our laundry costs to a minimum. I wash our underwear each day in the sink with a Tide lookalike, hanging it to discretely dry on a canvas chair on the veranda.  By evening, we can slip it on again, dry and fresh from the salty air. 

Tom relaxes with a cocktail before dinner at Robert’s Grove restaurant.

When we dine in as we will tonight, we wear shorts and tee shirts which, when dirty we leave in a mesh bag for the resort’s laundry service. Its returned hours later, wrinkle-free and neatly folded, still warm. Our laundry bill in the past month has been $19. 

Our divinely sweet Mayan maids, Gloria and her equally lovely helper Melinda are scheduled to arrive every Saturday and Wednesday morning at 9 am. Usually, it’s between noon and 4:00 PM. We don’t care. We adore them, their demeanor, their generous spirit, and their hard work. We try to clean up as much as possible before they arrive, trying to lighten their load.  We’ll tip them generously when we leave here in a little over a month’s time.

The aroma of the locally grown coffee provided by the resort fills the air;  the taste, the temperature, impeccable. Pouring ourselves, each a cup, ready for the day, we park ourselves as we often did in our old lives, on the now comfy sofa as opposed to the less comfy chairs (we rearranged the furniture a few days ago). 

Checking email, Facebook, financial matters, and balances on our credit cards each day has become as commonplace here in Belize as it was in Minnesota. 

We find that paying off our credit cards frequently gives us peace of mind in avoiding huge balances and potential interest charges with the constant influx of required final payments for upcoming cruises and rentals.  Our cards don’t charge exchange rate fees.  That’s worth more to us than any other perks

With the weather cooler and windy, I wore jeans to dinner for the first time in two months.

If we’ve spent any money in the prior 24 hours, I log the purpose and the amount on our Excel spreadsheets, placing the receipt in a file all of which I’ll soon scan, later tossing the needless slips of paper.  No point in dragging paper receipts all over the world. I do this daily. I check the budget, daily.  Obsessive?  Perhaps. But we always know where we are financially. It avoids worry. We both prefer that. 

Some days, we make breakfast, others we do not. We eat when we’re hungry, not at a set time unless we dine out. We both seem to get hungry at the same time or maybe we simply accommodate each other’s mention of hunger. Either way, it works for us. 

The walk along the beach invigorates us both, surprisingly a good workout as our feet drag through either the water or the soft sand, moving at a good clip. We can either head left or right on the beach.  We alternate, never tiring of the scenery, the smell of the sea, or the bright sun in our faces.  

Lounging by the infinity pool is a daily occurrence.  Often we’re engaged in lively conversation with other guests or with the villa owners from Minnesota, across the walkway from us. (They share mutual Minnesota friends with Tom! Small world!) We languish in the sun for an hour moving to the shade after an hour.

 Today, the little bird, a Kiskadee, and a crow friend stopped by while we lounged by the pool.
(Click on the link to find the Kiskadee toward the bottom on the page).

After pool time, we return to our villa again lounging on our veranda until close to 5 pm when the no-see-ums attack with vigor requiring us to escape indoors until after dark when they seem to dissipate to some degree. 

While preparing dinner, usually one of a small list of meals that we enjoy considering our limited diet, I drink hot tea and on occasion, Tom will have a cocktail.  We love the evenings, our meal, our conversation, and the sound of the waves lapping at the beach, only 15 feet from our veranda.

Tonight’s dinner, again our favorite, our gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, starch-free, low carb pizza will go into the oven soon at 375 degrees for 25 minutes until bubbly.  Luckily found Italian sausage, Chinese button mushrooms, jumbo green olives, and organic onions to make this pizza. With no available grated mozzarella cheese at the store this past time, I improvised slicing the cheese instead. No, we didn’t bring a grater. No, we’re not tired of the pizza. “They” say we all rotate only 10 meals, over and over.
After dinner and dishes, we again pick up our laptops, while the TV with US station hums quietly in the background, neither of us paying much attention as we chatter on endlessly laughing at funny Facebook entries, smiling over the photos of our grandchildren and other family members. 
In the endless quest to refine and research our upcoming travels, we find ourselves often busily clicking away at night, sharing tidbits we find along the way:  a rental car agency in Kenya we could use, a grocery store nearby our vacation home in Madeira, a pub within walking distance in Tuscany or a cruise we may consider in the future. 
By 10:30 pm, we head to the comfortable king-sized bed each bringing along our smartphones neither of which possess a cell phone service although they each have WiFi available from our resort, both of which are loaded with books to read on our Kindle apps.  With no TV in the bedroom, we both read in the dark until we each doze off, peacefully sleeping through the night. 
So, there it is.  Our quiet days on the road, not so glamorous, just living life, enjoying each other, sharing our story with thousands of loyal readers all over the world which in itself adds so much to our experience.  Thank you for joining us.

Countries we’ll visit, real estate to explore, plus photos…

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Famous long sidewalk in Placencia Village with houses scattered along the way.

After spending most of my career as a real estate broker in Minnesota, USA, real estate in Belize peaked my curiosity and Tom’s as well.  With our possible plan to “settle somewhere” when and if we tire of traveling, we’ve decided to research real estate when we find an area particularly appealing. 

An excellent example of local property design, the restaurant, the “Caribbean Breeze Coolspot,” offers sweeping views of the lagoon and the mountains from the deck.

With our newly discovered wanderlust, we can’t imagine living in one locale for an extended period.  But, let’s face it, advancing age may require a fixed location some time down the road

House along the drive into Placencia Village.

How can we make this potential eventuality fun and exciting, rather than a dreaded eventuality of aging?  Taking care of our health is firmly implanted in our lives.  As we all know, unforeseen medical issues can occur in a flash, no matter the attempts one has made to avert it.  We’re products of our genes, our environment, and past bad habits, that can haunt our DNA for a lifetime.

House on the way to Placencia Village.  There’s a tremendous amount of poverty in Belize.

Keeping a positive attitude isn’t a guaranty either, as much as we’d like to believe it is.  So, we’ve decided to live now, as if we’ll live long and healthy lives, full of energy, full of passion, and full of hope.

House we see each time we walk along the beach heading south on the Placencia peninsula.

This hope precipitates a desire to explore what options will be available to us for not only our pleasure but also for a certain degree of ease of living.  Would Belize fill that bill?  We don’t know.  We’re yet to define a frame of reference from one locale to another.

Occupied house near the pier at Monkey River.

We will have visited the following countries including many of their cities and regions in the next two-plus years. Health providing, we’ll add many more in the years to come.  With a three and a half month unplanned gap in Europe in 2014 and a plan to explore more countries during that time, perhaps we’ll add three to four more countries to this list.  (These are listed in no particular order).
1.      USA
2.      Belize
3.      France
4.      Italy
5.      Spain
6.      Turkey
7.      Greece
8.      United Arab Emirates
9.      US Virgin islands
10.  Honduras
11.  Grand Cayman
12.  Bahamas
13.  Puerto Rico
14.  Grand Turks and Caicos
15.  Portugal
16.  Egypt
17.  Jordan
18.  Kenya
19.  South Africa
20. Panama
21. Mexico
22. Guatemala
23. Costa Rica
24. Columbia

With ten upcoming cruises from April 2013 to November 2014, we’ll have an opportunity to look at properties while in port along the way, both for sale and for rent. This process may not give us a definitive view of our eventual long term location but may inspire us to return to live in a particular locale for a number of months to better acquaint ourselves with the lifestyle.

House along the canal leading to the lagoon, leading to the Caribbean Sea.

So often, while on vacation, we’ve all fantasized about moving to the location to live an idyllic life lounging on a pristine sandy beach, with the waves lapping at our feet. 

In only a short time, we’ve come to realize in our own naivety, that however romantic and inviting a location maybe, in time, we all settle into the comfortable and the familiar which hopefully brings us a sense of contentment, fulfillment, and a certain degree of happiness.

A walk on the beach…Changing our ways…

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This photo of Tom clearly depicts our quiet, contemplative, uncomplicated lives, relatively free of stress. 

Tom always jokes that he never imagined that his retirement would include walking other the necessary steps from his comfy chair to the bathroom, the kitchen, the bedroom, and the yard.  Yes, he was quite the handyman, fixing and fussing as needed, walking about the house.  We never took a walk together in our neighborhood.

As I began planning our worldwide travels over a year ago I budgeted for rental cars for most locations fearing that Tom would seldom want to walk to nearby restaurants, shops, and pubs.

Living in Belize for an extended period, the cost of a rental car or even a golf cart was prohibitive.  After all, we are on the secluded peninsula of Placencia, a four-hour drive from Belize City where our ship arrived. 

Upon arriving, we resigned ourselves to occasionally renting a golf cart as needed.  Much to our liking, we now have our own cab driver Estevan, whom I’ve mentioned here, who will take us anywhere we’d like to go for reasonable rates during daylight hours leaving us to “hoof it” for dinners out at night.

With multiple good restaurants nearby requiring no more than a 10-minute walk each way, our transportation needs are fulfilled.  We dine out two or three times a week and love rotating our favorites, especially on the nights they offer their stupendous buffets.  If we go on an adventure, transportation is provided.  So, we walk.  Tom walks.

After moving to Laru Beya on February 5th with a massive expanse of white sand beach in front of our villa, Tom surprised me when within a few days of arriving he suggested we walk the beach, a popular tourist outing.  I always treasured walking in our old neighborhood with our precious little dogs to their favorite spot, Poop Park, often walking with our equally wonderful neighbors and their little dogs. 

As long as the temperature was above 10 degrees we walked. The pads of their little feet would quickly freeze at lower temperatures.  Often, our World Wide Willie would stop dead in his tracks looking up at me with sorrowful eyes that asked me to carry him home when he’d had enough and of course, I did.  In the snow, on the ice, I carried him home, all 22 pounds of him, often as much as a 1/2 mile.  I loved walking.  Tom, not so much, having never walked the neighborhood with me once in 22 years.

Each day we began to walk along the beach at a lofty pace, in the water or on the sand, carefully watching for stray rocks, shells and bits of glass, engaged in idle chatter or in quiet contemplation. 

We can change, can’t we?  Life circumstances often unplanned, force us to look at our often rigid ways, leaving us open to change, to grow and to learn.  Some take advantage of the opportunity, others do not.  We revel in watching each other depart from that which we knew as familiar and comfortable, to the new people we are fast becoming. 

The chairs here aren’t comfy, the kitchen supplies are limited, finding foods for our way of eating is challenging, not owning cars is peculiar and no Walgreen’s is daunting. But we change to accept the differences, growing and learning in the process, all the while reveling in our personal ability to adapt. 

As I over-packed for almost a year in Minnesota all the things that “I couldn’t live without” much of which is now packed to be shipped to my sister in Los Angeles when we get to Miami on April 13th, I realized that I too could let go of things, learning to live without the comfortable and the familiar.

All the kind and generous advice others gave us regarding our excess luggage could only have meaning to us when we discovered it on our own, in our own time, on our own terms.  We’ve changed.  We’ll continue to change.

Suddenly, we look at one another with new eyes, with a new interest, knowing that wherever we maybe we’ll learn new ways of life, we’ll release old ways that don’t work in a new environment and, without a doubt,  we’ll walk, we’ll walk and we’ll walk. 

Moonlight becomes you…

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The late afternoon moon.

This old Johnny Mathis song wound through my brain last night as we watched the moon progress from the afternoon into dark. Yes, I know. That song sure dates me! 

Here’s the link on YouTube to this song that for old timers, like me, will bring back memories.  Listen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQOP3b3gLBQ

The moon at 9:00 pm.

Moonlight seems to appeal to everyone, young or old, as we marvel at the wonder of space, our world, the moon and the sun.  As I sit here on the veranda, the sun in my eyes, my laptop monitor hard to see on yet another hot sunny morning, I prepare to post the photos we took last night.

Back in Minnesota, on a full moon night whether on a warm summer’s eve or in the brisk cold of winter, we always stepped outside on those nights to languish in the bright beam of light cast upon the lake, even when frozen, reflecting a magical feeling of awe and surprise.

The moon from our veranda.

Here in another land, we find that we all share in the romantic commonality of reveling in the moon’s beacon of light reflecting so graciously upon the sea. Last night was no exception, as we noticed our few neighbors also on their verandas necks stretched to the heavens.

Thank you, moon.  Thank you, sun.  Thank you, God, for making our world and it heavens only but a glimpse of what is yet to come.

Playful night in Belize despite “24/7″…

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 Tom and I enjoyed the balmy evening, sitting on the beach in front of our villa.
I’ve never cared for the expression, “24/7,” thinking it sounded as if it were a lazy way of saying, “all the time,” “around the clock,” or “every minute of the day.”
 

The words “24/7” never crossed my lips until a few days ago while lounging at the pool, chatting with a guest at Laru Beya, it fell out of my mouth when she asked me, “Now that you both are retired, how does it feel to be together all of the time?”

Without hesitation, I blurted, “Being together 24/7 has worked well for us.  We don’t whine, snip or pick on each other. It works!”  I let out a little gasp, shocked at myself for having said the dreadful expression.  24/7?  Yep, that’s us. 24/7?  Yep, that’s most retired people. 

A few hours later, while again lounging, this time in the comfy chaise on our veranda, I allowed my mind to wander to the conversation with the woman.  After 22 years of being together with busy work schedules and personal lives, we’re finally together.


We shot this coconut tree photo in the dark on the beach in front of our veranda. 

How do couples make it work?  Over the years we observed many couples on their way to, and eventually into retirement.  Some made it work.  Some didn’t. 

Early on in our relationship and in many years to come, Tom and I surrounded ourselves with a role model couple we adored, Sue and Chip, our dear friends and neighbors four doors from us with whom we spent many enjoyable hours. 

Entrenched in lively conversations on countless occasions we discussed every possible topic, over fabulous food and drink, during holidays, special events, as well as on Chip and Tom’s shared birthdays on December 23rd. 


Hold it steady, Honey.  Its a little blurry!

As a couple, Sue and Chip personified the ideal of retirement.  Chip, retired as an orthopedic surgeon, used the finite hand skills he’d acquired as a surgeon to fulfill his artistic bent busying himself as a sculptor, artist and singer.  Sue, a charming hostess and friend to many, played tennis and entertained guests, surrounding herself with meaningful social and academic adventures.

Well rounded as individuals, they came together fulfilled and content, lovingly and unselfishly reveling in each other’s interests and activities.  Observing them during our countless times spent together, we knew we needed to follow suit into our own retirement with caveats we learned from Sue and Chip (never spoken but observed):

1.  No nagging, no complaining, no snipping and no negative tone of voice when asking or responding to anything at all.
2.  Expand on or develop new interests to fill a portion of your time in gratifying endeavors, sharing what you’ve learned with your spouse opening new avenues for conversation.
3.  Spend time with friends and family building relationships of your own.
4.  Socialize together always speaking well of one another with a twinkle in your eye.  Never complain about your partner’s bad habits (which seem to worsen as we age) to others, including family.
5.  Share financial status with one another on an ongoing basis especially if one handles the money more than the other.
6.  Discuss life’s concerns in a productive manner, inspiring solutions and resolutions together as a couple.
7.  Compliment each other, always seeking new ways to express your interest and attraction to many aspects of your partner, not merely complimenting their outfit for the evening (which in itself always earns brownie points!). 
8. Always give one another credit for accomplishments even if only one of you did most of the work.  After all, it is a partnership.
9.  Have fun!  (This can be achieved in many ways, if you know what I mean!)
10. Have more fun!

This is what we learned from Sue and Chip.  This is what we strive to achieve every single day.  It’s a choice, isn’t it?  It’s not a matter of circumstance one falls into via good or bad luck.  Do we accomplish it “24/7?”  No, but like any good habit, its easier to fall back into the goodness, if one so chooses.

We lost our dear Chip the end of May last year (see blog post in archives for June 1, 2012).  We miss him.  We’ll always miss him.  But, in us (and in Sue and many others who knew him and easily loved him) his legacy of love, laughter and passion for life continues on,  along with the fine example of a happy and fulfilling retirement as an individual and as a couple.

Last night we had fun, as we so often do, prompting our silly pictures posted on Facebook and again here in this blog today.  May it serve as a reminder that this, dear friends, is what retirement means to us, not traveling the world on one adventure after another but, being together living our lives to the fullest, living in the moment, with a “twinkle in our eyes” of what is yet to come.

Be well.

Thoughts from a milestone birthday…

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Stormy windy day on my birthday.
Repeat photo from a sunny day a few weeks ago.

Yesterday morning, on the day of my 65th birthday, clouds rolled in from the white capped sea creating a gloomy blanket over us.  Standing at the glass door at 6 am, I wondered if it would clear in time to spend the bulk of the day outside, as we’ve done over the past two weeks since arriving at Laru Beya, a virtual paradise of lush gardens, shifting sands, and non stop congeniality.

As raindrops propelled by the fierce winds splayed on the glass, for a moment I allowed myself a little whine, “Goodness, can’t it be nice on my birthday?”  Quickly reminding myself that the “old me” might have been annoyed by an inclement day, I straightened up and threw my brain into reverse.

“It’s a perfect day.  I’m 65 years old today, alive, healthy and living in a haven of loveliness with the man of my dreams, living a life I’d never imagined, a life I never dared to dream. Let it rain!  Let it pour!  It doesn’t matter.

No walk on the beach.  No long walk next door to be driven to the outdoor Singing Sands, five miles down the road to celebrate the occasion with yet another special dinner.  No one-hour by the pool soaking up our daily dose of Vitamin D, which now “they say” reduces the effects of aging.  We shall see how “that’s working for us!”

Coffee, shower, dress for the day and tidying up our place in preparation for our Mayan maid Gloria to come in and clean at 9:00 am, the same time our trusty cab driver Estevan appears to take us grocery shopping so we’ll be out of her way.

She was early.  We like her.  Tom blurted out, “It’s Jessica’s birthday today!” Obviously, he was fishing for birthday wishes for me when back in the US, the wishes came in abundance on that day. 

Gloria throws her head back and laughs, “Its my birthday today too!  Happy birthday, Miss Yessica,” she says with her sweet broken English.  We all laughed together.  Tom and I couldn’t give her enough good wishes.  How ironic?  I can’t recall ever meeting anyone with the same birthday.

Determined to find something fabulous to make for dinner, we rummaged through the three freezers at the grocery store in Seine Bight, the little town next to us, a short cab ride away.  Sensitive to Estevan waiting outside, I had an awful time making a decision:  frozen chicken parts, thin frozen steaks, frozen hot dogs or frozen short ribs. 

Hummm…what shall it be?  The limitations of our diet added to feeling confused and rushed.  I grabbed the chicken, parts unknown, unable to make a decision for any other nights. 

We grabbed the four packages of cream cheese we’d ordered a week ago,  several packages of local peanuts in the shell, a head of cabbage, six giant carrots and three onions from huge bags that had just arrived from the farm.

After a total of only $35 plus $10 plus tip for the cab, we were back on our way “home” still wondering what we’d cook for the birthday dinner.  As we put the perishables in the ample ice cold stainless steel fridge, perusing its contents, we decided on eating the leftover homemade pizza still in the freezer while I’d make a fresh batch of coleslaw by shredding the vegetables by hand. 

The knife in the drawer was dull.  I sharpened it on the rock Tom had brought inside  and washed for cracking coconuts.  It worked much to my surprise.  When does one “wash a rock” while living in the US?.  Never.  I made the coleslaw early in the day to chill.  Coleslaw and pizza?  Sure, why not?  A perfect birthday dinner.  (This was the other half of the pizza we didn’t really love but ate it anyway a week ago).  It tasted better the second time.

The rain continued throughout the day into the evening.  We’d cancelled the dinner reservation online.  We stayed in all day and evening.  I finished Part 2 of Monkey River for this blog, posting multiple photos (a slow laborious process in Blogger).  Tom watched the stock market news on TV. 

I responded to a multitude of thoughtful birthday wishes posted on Facebook, spoke to family on Skype and paid bills online. You know, the stuff we do on rainy days, snowy days, days we’re stuck inside.  I was not disappointed.  It was a good birthday.

Tom did the dishes as usual.  I played solitaire on my computer scoring my highest score ever.  At 9:30, my head nodding into my computer, I decided to turn in.  For some goofy reason I was tired. I guess that what 65 year olds do.

Valentine’s Day story about a happy couple we met…

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Pam and Jerry, newlyweds on their honeymoon at our resort at LaruBeya. 

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, we met a very special couple on the beach yesterday afternoon with whom we shared a delightful dinner at the Mexican buffet at Hananero Restaurant, a short walk across the road.

A couple about our ages, Pam and Jerry are on their honeymoon.  They were married last week on the beach in their winter home in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize at a small gathering of local friends.

Not so unusual a story in itself:  another fine couple at retirement age, find one another and commit to spending their “golden years” together in wedded bliss. 

The magic of Pam and Jerry’s story warmed our hearts.  They found each other on Facebook a few years ago, over 40 years ago after dating in high school.  I suppose this isn’t such a new story in today’s technological environment. 

Smiling from ear to ear as they told their story, we all reveled in the good fortune of finding that special someone, especially only a few days from Valentine’s Day, a day that Tom and I always celebrated with cards, gifts, and a special dinner.

This year will be different for us. There isn’t a Valentine’s card to be found in Placencia, Belize, not a drugstore, not a Target store or a gift shop containing anything other than the handmade trinkets we agreed not to buy in our travels. 

Years ago, I’d bake a heart-shaped cake with pink fluffy frosting on which I’d write words of love in my illegible handwriting. In any case, the message was clear.  Now, with our restricted way of eating plus the lack of local ingredients to bake a palatable gluten-free cake, we will be dessert free.

At the grocery store today, I had hoped to find cream cheese to make our low carb, sugar-free, grain-free, starch-free, “Cream Cheese Clouds” a favorite candy that freezes into a delectable candy. See the recipe at the end of this post.

There was no cream cheese and no butter, both ingredients needed to make this candy. Also lacking at the little store, the biggest in the area was Italian sausage to make our pizza tonight (what we kept in the little fridge last week while living in the “water-free” zone looked suspicious so we tossed it). 

There also was no breakfast sausage and no fresh veggies other than giant carrots and onions which we purchased. See my Facebook page for more details of our grocery shopping experience this morning.

In the morning, we’ll cut some fresh flowers growing everywhere around us.  I’ll set the table on the veranda with the placemats and linen napkins I borrowed from the restaurant for our time here.  We’ll crack the bottle of sparkling wine that we saved from the first night aboard the Celebrity Equinox using the champagne flutes in our villa’s cupboard. 

We’ll dine on the leftover pizza that we’re making tonight provided we don’t devour it all tonight. (We used Polish sausage in place of Italian sausage. We shall see how that works out).

No cards to open, no gifts to unwrap, and no homemade cake with pink fluffy frosting sticking to our fingers.  What there will be is the love to behold, the companionship to cherish, the commitment to comfort, the future to anticipate, and the moment…ah, the moment that will last forever.

Happy Valentine’s Day Pam and Jerry!  Happy Valentine’s Day to my husband. Happy Valentine’s Day to our four children, their spouses, our six grandchildren, our combined ten siblings and their significant others, our aunts, our uncles, our nieces, our nephews, our cousins, and all of their extended family members and all of our friends, all of whom we left behind, all of whom we send our love.

Love is universal. Love is worldwide. Love is wafting through the air in our lives every day and hopefully, in yours.

Recipe for:

CREAM CHEESE CLOUDS 

32 ounces cream cheese, softened 
2 cup unsalted butter, softened 
3 cup granular Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda * ¾ tsp liquid

1 T vanilla or other flavoring  (use red food coloring to make them pink if you’d like)

Beat everything with an electric mixer until fluffy. Drop by bite-size spoonful onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet.  Or if you’d prefer to make it easier, pour onto the bottom of a parchment or wax paper-lined cookie sheet and spread around until 1/3″ thick.  When frozen, break apart as you would peanut brittle into the bite-sized piece.

Freeze until firm, at least 1 hour. Store in the freezer and eat frozen.

Makes 96 clouds

* I didn’t think they were quite sweet enough with 1/2 cup so I used liquid Splenda to equal 3/4 cup granular. The counts are based on 3/4 cup Splenda.

NOTE: You
can store these in the freezer and they will hold their shape quite well as
long as they are good and cold.

With
granular Splenda: 
Per Cloud: 70 Calories; 7g Fat; 1g
Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; 1g Net Carb 


Per 2 Clouds: 140 Calories; 14g Fat; 2g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary
Fiber; 2g Net Carbs

With
liquid Splenda: 
Per 2 Clouds: 134 Calories; 14g Fat;
2g Protein; .5g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; .5g Net Carbs 

Per 4 Clouds: 268 Calories; 29g Fat; 3g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary
Fiber; 1g Net Carb

 

Barefoot and lazy…Easy life…No shoes…

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A newlywed couple, we’re dining with tonight took this photo of us.

With the exception of an occasional sick day, I’ve hardly ever had a lazy day. Except for now. 

I have no house to clean (maid service is included). I have no dishwasher to unload (no dishwasher except Tom).  There is no pile of laundry awaiting my attention as a result of no washer or dryer (laundry service, wash, dry, fold will cost us about $50 a month). 

There’s no way we can use this Hobey Cat with our bad shoulders.

Wearing our bathing suits all day, I don’t even have “what to wear” planning until the two nights we’ve decided we’ll go out to dinner, Tuesdays and Saturdays, both buffets (no doggie bags).

Our days now consist of changing the roll of toilet paper as needed, whipping up a mere five easy meals a week, making a pot of coffee in the mornings, tea in the afternoons.  No more multi-store grocery shopping, coupons to cut, trips to Walgreen’s, or stops at the post office. 

No more stops for gas on 10 degree days, hands freezing holding the nozzle.  No more car washes, oil changes, or auto insurance cards to put into the glove box twice a year. No more car.

First time I’ve ever let Tom take a photo of me in a swimsuit. 

No more coffee with friends at Caribou or Starbucks.

No more walks to “Poop Park” with the neighbor’s dogs or our own.  Our precious Worldwide Willie died almost two years ago, prompting me to write my first blog, from his perspective, for the remaining 17 days of his life.  (Feel free to read it, hankie handy, if you’ve ever lost a dog). 

“Are we bored,” you ask? 

“No, not at all,” we both say in unison. “Will we get bored?”

“No, not at all.”

After a lifetime of continually running around like a “whirling dervish” (whatever that is), I’m done “trying to do it all.” Tom is done trying to recover from 12-hour workdays, feeling exhausted on his days off, feeling unmotivated other than to do the mundane tasks of home maintenance which he completed faithfully without being asked twice, which he finished with aplomb.

We were happy in that life. Now, we’re happy in this life. But,  it’s coupled with a profound sense of freedom that is hard to describe.  No end-of-vacation blues, no piled up mail to anticipate, no Mondays, back to work.

With nothing to worry about in this simple existence, only occasionally interrupted by a move to a new location, we can focus on the little things; what and when to eat, where and when to explore, with whom to engage in conversation as strangers mull around during our one-hour daily visit to the pool. “Shall we go in the water or shall I continue sitting in the lawn chair reading my online book on my phone?”

Sitting in the lounge chairs on our veranda, we’re contemplating going inside soon to shower and get ready for dinner out tonight at Habaneros with a lovely newlywed couple we met outside, Pam and Jerry.  We’ll all take the short walk down and across the road, dine outside on the water’s edge, the no-see-ums armed and ready for fresh meat, mostly mine. I’m getting used to the sting, the itch, and the three nights of scratching using my newly toughened heels on my legs during the night. 

The bottoms of my feet are toughening-up after being barefoot all day;  walking to the pool, strolling along the beach, stopping at the office with questions (no phones in the villas here). 

Our sweet Belizean maid Gloria mentioned as I was picking flowers this morning, “Miss Yessica  (that’s how they say my name), “You finally get into the Belizean way, easy life, no shoes.”

“Yes, Gloria,” I responded, as the smell of the fresh bouquet wafted into my senses.   “Easy life, no shoes.”