Wanderlust… International Living is Winning My Heart

Wanderlust has caught me, hook line and sinker…

  

My most lucid “some day” premonitions nearly always pan out.

 

When I was in grade school, my “some day” premonitions gave me an advance look at myself as an accomplished published author. And it came to pass.

 

When I was a teenager, my “some day” premonition was that I would become almost like a family member to the DeForest Kelleys. I had recurring dreams about that after meeting De and Carolyn for mere minutes in 1968. And it came to pass.

 

When I first came to Hollywood, although I thought I would be landing an immediate job at Paramount (with a little help from my mentor, De, and the fact that I aced their typing test with flying colors), my premonitions kept telling me that I was destined for Warner Bros. And guess where I ended up for the vast majority of my time in Tinsel Town. Yep! Warner Bros. from 1994 to 2003.

 

Now I’m getting rock-solid premonitions that I will relocate to Central or South  America in the next five years or so, so I’m brushing up on my Spanish and I subscribed to International Living Magazine so I can start previewing potential landing places. I would LOVE to attend their conference in Santa Fe New Mexico in September but that is most likely a pipe dream. I wish they’d have one up here in the Pacific Northwest. I could probably swing that, but not air fare and hotel fare, too.

 

I’m looking at options in Mexico, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Belize, and  Ecuador.

 

I can live far better for far less in all those places. I can continue to write–this time about my new home/environment/country/friends–and find homes for the articles in travel and international living magazines.

 

I’d have a whole new world of wildlife surrounding me: tropical birds, sloths, monkeys, etc., depending on where I land. It would be like living in a zoo but without bars.

 

I could–and would–eat more healthily because I could grow my own food all year and visit mercados (markets) and restaurants where less-processed, more natural foods are offered.  When Mom and Dad  visited Mexico Dad lost more than 40 pounds without even trying because the food there was so real, and fresh and good for him that he didn’t crave the addictive, overly-processed and adulterated crap that passes for food up here.

 

I just have a feeling it’s going to happen. My spirit is leaning in that direction. Every time my International Living (IL) Magazine comes, I tear out every page of it that has to do with south of the border living and put it in my three-ring binder, because at some point, I’m going to have to make a choice… and  I want all of that info in front of me so I can do a pro and con comparison and decide where to live.  I’ll probably rent a while wherever I land to make sure I feel at home in the new place. That’s what IL suggests, and it makes sense.

 

My little sister will always be close to her son. He’ll probably always stay in this neck of the woods. Same with my older sister. They have grand kids here now, too

 

Lisa (my best friend on the planet) is amenable to considering relocating, if we can decide on a place that we both like. But she loves England, and I think she’ll move there, if she exits the U.S. But she’s amenable to considering other nations. England is as expensive as here, so it’s out of my range unless I want to continue to struggle financially. (I don’t!!!)  I’ve only been to Mexico and Canada; she has lived internationally lots of times. Canada is too pricey for me, and too far north. This is as far north as I ever want to be. It would be nice to live nearer the equator, high up, so the weather is moderate year ’round and A/C and heating aren’t required.

 

There’s a lot to think about…and I’m doing a lot of thinking about it.

 

I don’t see this country digging itself out of the hell hole it’s in in my lifetime: I think we’ve gone past the point of no return and that racism, xenophobia and white supremacy will continue to spawn division in the land.

 

I’m tired of it. I want to go where people recognize and respect that we’re all in this together and that strangers are only friends we haven’t met yet.

 

I long to find a Mister Rogers neighborhood, where everyone is welcome and everyone feels respected and  cherished…

 

So I’ll be avoiding the countries that don’t do that.

 

The USA seems to be the most intolerant in this hemisphere, sad to say. And it isn’t a recent phenomenon. I just never realized until Barack Obama became president just how much incipient, vile racism there still is… and now that the worm has turned, and it’s all out on the table, I find myself ashamed of being an  American. Not that we’re all bad, but so many of the good ones remain silent or do not vote, and they seem to be  unwilling to stand up against the intolerance that has raised its ugly head like a spitting cobra.

 

It’s time to look for a better place–and as a patriot, I never, ever thought I would make that statement.

 

I “was blind (or a Pollyanna)…but now I see.”

 

I’m like Mark Twain, who famously said, “People call me a pessimist in my old age, but I’m not. I am an optimist who did not arrive.”

 

That’s me in a nutshell… and it saddens me to confess it.