2023 Another wonderful year

Ricardo's thoughts on 2023.

I’m writing from Mexico, wondering what is important and not about this past year.  Of course I continue to feel lucky with our continued adventures as we travel  together. I must admit that I have come to the conclusion that no place is the best however being healthy and of good cheer keeps me centered and free from many of the everyday problems.

San Miguel decorated for the holidays

For me, not feeling too attached to my possessions, which I have some, allows me to worry less. People ask me where I prefer, Mexico or the United States. This is a hard question to answer since they are both different in so many ways yet they both give me joy and comfort.

 Let me explain simply.

My home in North Carolina is very comfortable and a very easy place to live.  It’s ours that we have created together and filled it with our many memories and memorabilia. We have many close friends there as well as our UU church community which is not to shabby. When I’m not there I miss mostly my friends and my community.

My place here in Mexico is a home that we are house sitting again for friends who like to travel for months at a time. They have often invited us to care for this beautiful place. Being a house sitter is great opportunity for us, but I know that this kind of experience here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico will sometime come to an end.

We are seeing ourselves in a window now for our future travels and still have a bucket list that we hope to fill.  Like up north, we have many dear friends here and we continue to be involved with our not for profit organization that Susan started 10 years ago, called Libros para Todos. This time here being a direct part of LpT was a very rewarding part of our time. The organization has grown much since its inception. I’m so proud of the staff and the many volunteers.

I am thinking about life’s ups and down that we all experience. For me being a part of a community, is essential and both up North as well as here in Mexico gives me the chance to be of service to others and I know that someday I will be needing help from others. This is what makes a community so important. We are lucky to be part of two communities.

Wishing you a happy New Year and another year around our life giving sun. Sending you all love and health.

Ricardo

And thoughts from Susan....

As another year comes to an end, it is a good time to reflect on all our lives. I love that we have a way to revisit our many activities and travels over the years together. As December 30th is also our anniversary (33 years) we have much to be grateful for.

This year I will focus on several gratitudes.

Family and friends

This holiday year finds us once again in San Miguel de Allende, Mx with friends and family (brother Richard and Mei Mei are joining us on Jan 1st). Truly it is our friends and families that are our most important gifts. When we are in Mx we miss our peeps in the USA and vice versa. We have accumulated many friends all over the world and through this blog and technology we manage to stay connected to most of you. As Richard mentioned above, we are so very lucky to be a part of two communities with many good friends in El Norte as well as Mexico.

The family at Eli and Sabrina's wedding

Health 

As I mentioned last year, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease just over 3 years ago and I am very grateful to report that I am no different than last year which I attribute to my medication which works well and the active lifestyle I try to keep up with as much as possible. This includes Rocksteady Boxing and strength, balance and coordination exercises. Many of our friends are experiencing issues relating to  aging and it is a time to reflect on all the experiences that we have had over the years that have taught us so much. My reflections on all our many adventures in life give me much to be grateful for.  Many of us are in "La tercera edad" which is the Spanish words for "The third stage" of life and each day is a new opportunity for adventure and growth as we try to accept our changing limitations.

Travel

We continue to enjoy traveling and happy to be able to continue traveling with our base now in North Carolina. You can read my blog posts of our trip to Spain last Spring for 5 weeks including one week with our good friends from England; Dan, Fiona, Aidan and Will. 

Our travels in the USA by car was to New York and Massachusetts this summer to see family and friends. This has been a tradition for so many years. The trip culminated with the wedding of my nephew Eli and his bride Sabrina in MA. What fun to be together for such a joyous occasion.

We returned to Mexico on Oct 1st and here until January 18. Once again we are house sitting for one of our favorite homes and so grateful to reconnect with so many of our friends. 

Libros para Todos

From the opera for LpT

I am very happy to say that we have just celebrated our tenth anniversary of Libros para Todos and I am so grateful and proud of all of the work that we have done to support reading in some of the rural communities of Mexico. Our volunteer team has grown to include all Spanish speakers and we continue with our programs which include 2 big reads/year, 3 week long summer camps, creating small libraries in 2 communities this year and working weekly with 3 rural communities in schools with personalized instruction to help with reading and writing skills. Many students were unable to keep up with their coursework over the several years of the pandemic so this has become a very important part of our work. Richard and I are still on the Board of Directors and are grateful for our 3+ months here this year supporting this program in person. Many thanks go to all of you, our family and friends who have supported this program for the 10 years since its inception. 

Some of our volunteers

So we end this post with good wishes for peace and health in the world and a happy new year for all.