Launch

The day has come. My last day at work was, as expected, tough. For all the reasons I've said in the past few weeks on here so-I-won't-bore-you-with-the-details (inhale), events are starting to move and, of  course, both of us have gotten sick. My upset stomach is the result of high stress and forgetting to take my meds for 2 days.

One of the things we HAVE to establish is a stateside bank that does transactions abroad as a matter of course. You know. Been there done that. Done it twice yesterday. Luckily, a friend has had an occasion to need a bank like that recently, so I set up an appointment with the bank for tomorrow afternoon.

It works out that Connie and I both "have to buy" prescription sunglasses to use up benefits set up for such things...sorta. And not cheap ones, by my count. This could be fun. And cheap. AAAANNND LensCrafters just happens to be next door to...wait for it...that little international bank I mentioned. The gods smile upon this.

With the new laptop, if you can get Skype, you can keep in touch with us. International rates will apply, I assume. As we leave I'm going to try to keep up here. The first trip, the "recon" trip, will take about 10 days and I'm hoping we can be in Guatemala by Monday. We have to evaluate a couple of choices first to decide WHERE we'll live, then arrange for the house, and maybe a car. We may be able to actually stay there if things move smoothly.

When we return, it'll be time to close down the place and say goodbye to a bunch of friends we love dearly and who are, I assume, planning trips to central america in the not-to-distant-future. Next time...

Saying Goodbye

Twelve years ago Connie and I moved back to Tulsa after living away for 17 years. We had wanted to come home for some time, but one thing or another had always kept us away.

For about 6 months after our return I would catch myself smiling at everyday things I saw as I drove around town, enjoying the fact that I was back home, really home, and not just for vacation or such. It eventually wore off, of course, but I remember what a special feeling it was saying hello again.

I'm telling you this story because I caught myself doing it again the other day, but for exactly the opposite reason. No, this time I'm looking at everything as if I may never see it again because I may not. I'm trying to enjoy the sights and sounds and taste of Tulsa. I'm enjoying my hometown almost as a visitor might, maybe as a child might see it for the first time. To be honest, it is a special feeling, one that I hope will ease my feeling of loss when I can't see it anymore.

5 more days...

Countdown.

Only three more Monday mornings left in my professional career...

Second Guessing

It's been awhile since I posted last, I know, but we're in the organizing and packing stage and its pretty boring, to be honest. Recent developments have picked the pace up.

It's official. I turned in my letter of resignation. Or is it called a letter of retirement? I honestly don't know. I've never been in this position before. Whatever you call it, it's a major step of commitment. As Connie says, we're now flying without a net. But I know how long we've been planning this and I have a lot of confidence in what we're doing.

We found out that you have to get a Guatemalan drivers license within 6 months of arriving. Sounds like no big deal, right? Except that it's only printed in spanish and I don't know spanish yet! Good motivation, I guess. I think motivation is the guy in the shop smiling at me and I don't know if I'm getting ripped off or not. A cop asking you questions and all I know is that I don't want to go to a Guatemalan jail. You know, important stuff.

Anyway, I never, ever thought I would be second guessing myself about retiring. Most people would be delighted to trade their job for a Latin American bar and a cold Corona in the afternoon. But I never thought I would have a job like the one I've had for the last 11 1/2 years. You probably would think working at a public aquarium is cool. And you definitely would be right. But the people have been so incredible, my boss has been the best. Your ideas are valued there. You wouldn't believe how often we've had to actually create something out of nothing because what we wanted to do had never been done before. And we pulled it off EVERY TIME!! It will be hard to walk out the door the last time.

In 30 days...

Picking

Many times I've stood in line at airports and there is someone with a cart FULL of luggage and there is only a man and woman with it. I would wonder why anyone would need that much luggage. It never crossed my mind that they might be moving! And that's what we're facing right now. Our primary form of shipping at first is going to be suitcases and trunks.

When I started this page, the title was "packing" but before I got far into it, I realised this is more abour picking. What gets to go? What gets sold? What goes to the dump? The first thing I need to know is how big are my bags and how many do I get? What's important, what is...umm...not so important?

Some of it is easy. Lawnmower? Nope. Tiller? No way. Pretty much everything associated with lawn and garden gets sold. We're simply not going to need them or we can buy them there cheaper than shipping it. Sofa? Recliner? We're moving into a furnished home so we need to sell the furniture. We will, however, need to wash our clothes but the washer and dryer are just too big. Not going.

Original artwork collected over the years? Not making the trip but we don't really want to get rid of them, so should we sell them? Do we have time ? We got most of our good stuff in New Orleans so would anyone here even be interested in Crescent City artists and artwork? If we keep them, what should we do with them? Ok, so now we start talking about renting a storage unit. We have some artwork that isn't original but we've had them since before we got married. And that brings up another consideration. Sentimental value.

Connie has a rocker that was her granny's so it either goes to storage or to a family member. The same has to be decided about my grandfather's ashtray. My dad's retirement poster from his coworkers. Connie's desk that has always been in her family, no idea who bought it. Many dishes, platters, silverware.

When you've been married for 28 years, you collect a lot of stuff. Very little of it is worth much but it's always been there. What do you do with that?! Maybe I'll figure that out along the way. The picking continues...

The Job

I got off work from Coca Cola in Mobile, AL about 7:30 that morning and drove across the street to the grocery store. Picked up a few things we needed. Connie was at home, asleep, having just gotten back from 6 months working at a hospital in St. Croix.

When I started the car they were talking on the radio about a plane crash. In New York City. Then, as I drove out of the parking lot, a second plane crashed and at that moment, all of us knew what was going down.

We were planning a move back to our hometown of Tulsa, Ok. We had been moving around the country for 17 years, mostly because there was high demand for someone who could run and maintain a soft drink bottling and canning operation. Uh, that would be me. But something happened that changed all that. A career change, a MAJOR career change. What could cause all that? My first granddaughter was born.

The house we were moving out of was built in 1906. A newer house for that area. But I learned how to "restore" older homes, not remodel. We were planning for me to start restoring one of the old oil baron homes north of downtown Tulsa.

Unless something fun popped up.

We moved into Connie's mom's farm south of Bixby and started making plans to build our dream home that we had designed ourselves. Reading the paper one day, I found an ad for a mechanically inclined person to work for a new aquarium being built in Jenks, a nearby town. I showed Connie and asked if that qualified as "something fun". She said that it most certainly did. So I decided to go by and fill out an application the next day.

I've been working for the Oklahoma Aquarium for over 11 years now and it's the best job I've ever had. I started when the steel girders were going up and worked my ass off, like everyone else there, to get the place open. It was fascinating work. My boss designed all the filtration systems and sometimes we had to get creative to make the systems work. That was my job. I was asked by someone what my job was. I said "Whatever needs to be done". It's still my job.

Take my word for it. You don't get to just walk away from a job like this. You don't just forget your friends who you've worked with and gone through everything with. I can walk down the center of the Aquarium and point to everything I've helped create and just about point to all of it. There are so many crazy things that happened in 11 years and so many stories to tell. Maybe the subject of another post.

I've been so lucky to have my last job be the best one of them all.

Kick Off

Ok. I got it. By popular demand, this the first post of my new blog. I plan to document the planning, fact finding, and kickoff of our new adventure. Now, keep in mind we've done this before (although it has been nearly 12 years since our last one so we're a little rusty) and that makes us kinda professionals. So don't try this at home!

I think some history is in order so you'll know how we got to this point. And as so many stories do, it started in Nawlins.

When Pepsi hired me in the late '80's to work in the Crescent City, Connie decided to enroll at Tulane for her Masters studies. She chose International Health Policy and we started to think about the possibility of living abroad. She shared some of her classes with nurses and doctors from Belize and they told her stories of their native country; the sheer beauty of it, the excellent climate, and the inexpensive cost of living. That caught our attention. So, naturally, we went there on vacation to have a look.

San Pedro is the principal town on Ambergris Caye and, at the time, was pretty much untouched by commercialism. The shop owners came out every morning to rake and sweep the sand streets. There were no resorts or chain hotels to be seen. It was so clean I refused to throw my cigarettes out on the ground. When we opened the french doors in our room in the morning, we looked out to a postcard scene. Turquoise waters, waves crashing over the reef in the distance, the salt in the air. Yeah, we were hooked.

Fast forward 25 years. Pink Floyd. Another time. Connie contracted Multiple Sclerosis shortly after we returned from that vacation. So many doctors, tests, medications, hopes, disappointments. And now we want to retire while we can still enjoy it. But Belize has started down that long ugly road of development and we'd heard that the prices had gone up along with it. But apparently not all of Belize. So we headed out to find our place in the sun. Thanksgiving week of 2011 we flew to Belize City, rented an SUV, and spent 12 days driving all over the country. And we found it in a little village called Maya Beach.

But we ran into old men hiding fortunes from us. Next came the accusations, ill will and, of course, attorneys. We found out the hard way that some people don't like our plans much. But then a friend of ours in Belize took a month long vacation and posted pictures of her trip. To Guatemala.

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala is considered by many to be the most beautiful lake in the world. At 5,000 ft it is an old caldera and is surrounded by 4 volcanoes. The climate is high and dry, perfect for Connie. And the best part is, it's cheap. Cheaper than Belize. Like half as cheap! Like, we don't have to wait for old assholes cheap.

So. Here we are. My last day at work is Labor Day. September 2nd. We made it. Our 25 year old dream is starting to happen. You get to come along for the ride and read about our adventure. I have to warn you, however. Our friends will agree that we sometimes have a strange way of looking at things. Strange tastes and even stranger views. Strange eye views.