Busy, Busy, Oh My

Wow, it has been so busy since Patti left!  Let's see, Patti left on November 26 and this is what has happened since.

I had eight days to get ready for Rauno's  arrival of his trip back to La Paz.  It was so great to have him back again. We were pretty busy while Rauno was here, we gave a party at Casa Ana, we went to a happy hour on Hotel California which was nice catching up, just the four of us.  We attended a party at Fern and Brian's, we went out to La Ventana and watched the kite surfers with Mike and Jeanette which was major fun, we walked the Malecon many times, ate a lot, and played lots of Rummi Kub which Rauno is getting too good at!  Rauno's ten days here just flew by and saying goodbye was very hard.

Ginger and Lorraine

Rick closing his deal on Ebay

Gregg, Liz and Lisa

Bill on the left, Barb and Rauno

Corrine and Sharon

So, what's next you ask?  I'll keep you posted!  

Patti Came A Calling

In 1989 while cruising, we met many people.  Some of those people sort of fade into the sunset, others stay in contact forever.  While in Hawaii in 1989 we met Patti who was on her boat with a friend.  Once we both returned to our prospective homes, Patti up to Canada and us to Idaho, we exchanged Christmas cards with newsletters letting each other know what was new in our lives.  Then, finally, one day Patti joined the rest of the world and bought a computer!  We were able to correspond much easier and last year Patti came to La Paz to visit.  This year made two years in a row that Patti came and as you can see from the following pictures, we had a great time! 

 

There was a whale shark watching day thanks to Dale and Dena, there were parties, a Thanksgiving celebration, a Cruiser's party, a parade and many walks on the Malecon that included ice cream from the Polka Dot Tree of Frozen Yorurt.

I took Patti to the airport this morning and I must say, I miss her already!

Ain’t Life Grand and a Surprise!

What do hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes have in common?  They turn your life upside down.  I have had an upside down life for a while now but things have started to calm down and right themselves. 

As of last week, I am now a three year cancer survivor.  That in itself seems like a miracle to me.  I have managed to meet a wonderful man that cares for me lock, stock and barrel. A man who does not care what my past has been or what my future could bring.   This man’s name is Rauno.

I just spent the last ten days getting tested, poked and prodded at UCSF in San Francisco and Rauno was right by my side the entire time.  I am beginning to feel whole again and I know he feels the same.  I also had the pleasure of meeting his daughter, Emily and her husband Creighton and his son, Kirk.  Both Emily and Kirk seem very supportive of their father and seem genuinely happy for us.  My son, Marc, my sister and nieces are all equally happy for us.  While in the Bay Area we had breakfast with Aunt Norma and Uncle Tom and received their approval as well! 

Our first few days in San Francisco we got to play tourists, visiting the Museum of Science, Pier 39, the Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park, China Town and we did lots and lots of walking around San Francisco which we both really enjoy doing. We had dinner in the city with Emily and Creighton, Kim and Mike and then topped our evening off with Beach Blanket Babylon, a must if you are ever in San Francisco. 

They're A Match!

Stop and think about how many people are in the world, no, forget the world and just think about the number of people who live between La Paz and Oregon.  I figured it out and being the mathematical genius that I am, I came up with 41,778,494.  Now, try to imagine 93 million visitors per month trying to find a partner on one of the world's most popular sites.  It is mind-boggling, but dog gone it, it worked for Rauno and me.

On the 6th, Rauno flew down to make that final and necessary face-to-face connection.  We felt like we already knew each other, thanks to hundreds of emails, hours of phone conversations and the ever popular Skype.  One of the things we knew about each other was that we both had been fortunate to have had wonderful and happy marriages, and we knew that we wanted that again.  That, right there, eliminated most of those 93 million people who were divorced and seeking anything BUT marriage!  We both missed the companionship we had been robbed of.  We missed everything from the morning coffee ritual to holding hands on an evening walk, and having someone to share everything with.

While there are no plans to run off to Vegas and be married by Elvis, we have become a couple.  We know that our family and friends are happy for us and that is the best feeling in the world.

Both Rauno and I feel that Jan and Steve will always be with us and that they would have wanted us to move forward and be happy.

Yesterday was an exciting day for our friend, Paulette!  Paulette has made a huge life change by leaving the comfort of the U.S. for La Paz.  Already she is shaking her head and wondering if she did the right thing. It will take a while, just like it takes all of us. Mexico can be a foreign country, a very foreign country!

Paulette drove us to dinner last night and her son, Gage, and I were saying things like "yes, it's a stop but that doesn't mean you have to stop", or "don't dawdle, keep the car moving"!  No one knows more than I how frustrating and difficult the driving can be here.  I've only been driving here for eighteen months and I'm just starting to get it.  Almost every time that Steve drove, my knuckles turned white and now I chuckle when I glance over and see that my passenger's fists are balled up and their knuckles look like mine used to!  Ha! Payback!

A new adventure is always exciting and we hope that Paulette's is a wonderful new chapter in her book of life.

Welcome Home Paulette!

Starting from the left: Gate, Paulette's son, his friend Luka, myself and Paulette

The Scoop

Okay, I know all of you are wondering about the “happy face” pictures on Facebook and what has brought those smiles to my face.  Well, part of it is “makeup” which I rarely use, and,  I’ve decided I don’t like being alone and I have started to date. Geez, do we still call it that? 

Last week a gentleman from Reno flew down to meet me, and the idea of that was pretty exciting. He, Dwain, arrived on Thursday and we had a very nice week.  Dwain was extremely generous, very much the gentleman and I even got one long walk on the Malecon out of him.  We attended two parties, ate lots of fish tacos, Huachinango and ice cream from the Polka Dot Tree.  

Dwain’s visit was a great trial run, but in the end, nothing will come of it.  As always, there were hurdles like me loving my retirement in La Paz and not wanting to leave, he loving his job and not wanting to quit, I get goose bumps from a fan on overhead and he loves the four seasons.   Like me, Dwain is a widower and I believe, in my heart, that the one BIG hurdle is that he cannot deal with the possible recurrence of my cancer and that, in the end, I will die.   He said he didn’t think he could survive losing another person.  That is totally okay, too.  I can accept that. The bright side? I have a new life-long friend out of the deal.

However, I haven’t received a date in the mail yet as to when my demise will come.  So, until then, I plan to continue to LIVE and enjoy what time I have left.  Hopefully, the rest of my life will include a special man.  Now, how difficult can that be?  I’m taking applications and interviewing, you know where to reach me!   

Dwain enjoying his "orange soda"

Dwain with his first "Mexican Hot Dog"

Me with Dwain's Skeleton

Rummi Kub Group

My lovely guests from left to right: Marta, Sylvia, Mary (sitting) Pilar (standing) Leti, Cecilia and Mercedes

One of the things I love about La Paz are the many varied activities one can get themselves into if they have the inclination.  Recently, a friend invited me to play in their Rummi group.  Needless to say, I felt very flattered as these groups get formed and they stay the size they are. The people (in this case, ladies) get comfortable with each other and know what and what not to talk about.  These get-togethers are like therapy sessions you might pay a lot of money for!  Problems are hashed out, peoples lives are up-dated and general goodwill is performed.  One of the ladies in this group has had health issues for a while, so the ladies of the group decided they would gather all the clothing items, kitchen gadgetry, appliances, furniture and general "stuff" they didn't use any more and have a huge garage sale to raise funds for her surgery.  The garage sale was so successful that it has turned into an on-going money raiser for her.  I had the pleasure of volunteering some time at the garage sale and I not only contributed "stuff", I brought home purchases!  I call that a win-win. 

Another thing about this group is that they serve a full dinner before they play, not just little snackies like chips or nuts!  Last Friday was to be my first time hosting and I was stressed. What to serve? What will they think when they see I am furniture challenged but actually like it this way? Would they be able to relax with someone they've only met on a couple of occasions? And, none of these ladies speak English, or if they do they keep it to themselves!

Well, I am happy to report that all went well!  The ladies arrived at 8:30 p.m. (normally my bed time, but I had prepared at 3:00 p.m. with a cup of black coffee and a chocolate cupcake)! There were about five women that couldn't make it.  I decided to make something the ladies may never have tried, so I made Spring Rolls, Jaye was kind enough to come over and help me make Chicken Curry, I steamed up some rice and made lemon pies for dessert!

Dinner was a hit, the ladies were kind, gracious and ate everything!  I can't wait until it's my turn again, but next time I won't be so stressed about it.  Yeah, right!  I might mention that the party ended after midnight and I stayed awake for the whole thing!

Snacks

Spring Rolls

Jaye's Chicken Curry

Lemon Cream Pie

Sixty Four Years Old! Wow!

This morning I woke up reflecting on what all has happened in my sixty-four years of life on this earth.  It has been a pretty great run, much sadness but also a lot of happiness.  While some people refuse to share their age, I am happy to be 64!

Birthdays are strange, aren’t they?  When we are young, we can’t wait to be older and when we are older, we want to stop counting the years. We wish we didn’t have gray hair or laugh lines or flabby arms.  We get to be this age and we start losing our moms, dads, spouses and friends to old age and diseases.  Our memory takes a trip to, who knows where! And we get hitches in our giddy-up’s, as my father-in-law used to say. 

Sometimes I can’t understand why I am still on this earth.   What freak thing happens that allows someone very sick to live on and others that are healthy to not survive?  We don’t have the answers to these questions, wouldn’t it be great if we did? 

But, I’m here. I have gray hair, many laugh lines, flabby arms and a few other things that weren’t there when I was 20!  Just so you know, I happen to love my gray hair, I’m even okay with the wrinkles that we call “laugh lines”, and about those flabby arms………3/4” sleeves!   Great invention!

Thank you all for wonderful birthday wishes!

From left to right sitting are Julie, Mai, me with the pool hair, Mercedes. Standing from left to right are Linda, Ginger and Lorraine.

Paulette Comes A Visiting!

On Monday, July 2nd, Paulette arrived in La Paz.  Looking for a life change, she was thinking maybe La Paz would be the place to do just that.  The first couple of days were unusually cool for July in La Paz, we ate at outdoor restaurants and indoor ones as well. We never did make it to the hot dog cart.  We went to the beach on a couple of occasions, the water was absolutely delicious!  On Thursday we had a party with about twenty ladies. It had been a while since Casa Ana hosted a party but everything went well and we had great pot luck appetizers.  I'd have to say the winners were Jaye's  little quiches and Fern's Mexican egg rolls.  Don't get me wrong, it was all great!   We also went to an Awards dinner on the 4th of July given after the sailboat races in the bay. 
Being the interior designer that Paulette is, she started rummaging thru my cupboards to see what she could find to decorate with.  It amazes me that she could turn a plain room into something that would appear in House Beautiful!
I think Paulette got a pretty good idea of what life in La Paz can be like.  She made instant friends and has decided to take the plunge!  We look forward to having her in our community!



Lovely Paulette

From left to right, Penny, Sheryl, Fern and Jaye

From left to right, Lorraine, Mercedes, Sandy and Linda

From left to right, Terry, Ana, Yvonne and Corrine

I'm sorry I didn't get photos of the ladies that were visiting in the kitchen, we will get you next time at our next party! We all decided it was great fun and that we should do it more often. 

This morning, as usual, I headed to the kitchen, in my morning fog, to get that first and much anticipated cup of coffee.  A couple of sips later I was sitting at my computer ready to catch up on world events.  Nothing serious, we’re talking about “my” world. 

The first thing for me is to open my email.  This morning, I opened my mail and you can’t imagine what I felt when I saw an email come thru from “Steve Hall”.  I froze and stared, wondering and trying to conjure up how many Steve Halls’s I knew.  Of course, I hoped it was a long delayed message Steve may have written before he died.  I cried, I blew my nose and as stupid as it seems, I opened it hoping that I would not be disappointed.  I didn’t click on the link, I’m not THAT dumb!

But, no, it was some STUPID, STUPID person that hijacked Steve’s email contacts. 

I would like very much to know what these people get out of sending these links.  I don't understand. 

New Beginnings

Steve and I had a favorite restaurant called “Café Maria’s”. A year and a half ago, Maria’s husband, Jorge, suddenly passed away.  Maria, an older Mexican lady, conformed to tradition and wore dark colors for the appropriate length of time.  Soon after that, Maria began to repair her restaurant – she painted and laid new flooring and generally spiffed up the place. Steve and I tried to figure it out.  Why do some people wait until the loss of their mate to change their surroundings?

Is it a financial decision? Or lack of time?  Perhaps couples become so comfortable with their lives they aren’t motivated to make changes.  Possibly, they’re so busy enjoying each other that repairs are postponed to manana.

It’s true that Steve and I were so busy enjoying our lives together that we didn’t notice that the frames around our bedroom doors had wood putty on them since we bought the house five years ago!  Steve would never hire a handyman since he planned to do the work himself – tomorrow. But women like Maria and I can’t do the work ourselves so we merely need to pick up the phone and a worker will come today. . Also, I think we just need to keep moving, keep moving to forget.

But Steve and Jorge are no longer here.  Today I watched the painter transform “our” house into “my” house using bright and bold colors and I had an “aha moment”.  It was time, it was time to let go, move on and start a new life full of color.  Color, I might add, chosen by (in alphabetical order! Donna, Judy, Linda, and Victoria).  My Victoria, always at the end of the alphabetical line-up. 

Would Steve be happy with my choices? A periwinkle and chartreuse kitchen? Or the chartreuse, margarita lime and cinnamon living room? And the sea foam green and dark chocolate bedroom?  I know, exactly, what he would say.  Steve would say, “Whatever you want, Ana”, because that is what he always said!

A new mirror adds a splash of interest.

What the mirror reflects.

I love the "new" living room, it's cheerful and light!

Measure of a Man Part Two

Well, Friday will mark a year that Steve has been gone.  It has been a very tough year.  It is very strange when you get too this point, I’ve been here before with my mom and sister.  It seems like yesterday that we were walking, hand in hand down the Malecon,  yet, it seems like an eternity since I’ve seen him.  I still wait for him to come back and hope that this has all been a big fat joke but I know he won’t and I know it isn’t. 

Everyday I’m asked how I am doing.  It was the right decision to come back and stay in La Paz. Our friends here have been phenomenal, always checking up and including me in their plans.  It is difficult, looking around a dinner table and seeing three couples and me.  But, even that is getting easier.    I talk to Steve every day, many days I still cry and there are those days I don’t.  

My card making has kept me very busy,  and Molly (the dog) has been a true blessing. 

So, when you sit down to dinner on Friday night and you have your glass of wine or margarita in hand, please raise it for Steve, I know I will.

Thank you everyone for helping in this transition. 

Happy Birthday to Marc!

Okay, I know I'm the mom but you all have to agree that this is one good looking guy! Marc turns 42 years old today!  Funny how your kids grow up in a blink of an eye. Before you realize it you are finished with diapers, potty training, sleep-overs, and school.  One thing is for certain, a parent never stops worrying about and loving their children.  It is a wonderful place to be when your baby talks to you with the concern of a parent.  That is when you know you have done a decent job and you can sit back and relax and grow old in peace, all is well.  

I love you Marc! Happy Birthday