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| nuestra casa |
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| View on April 10th from driveway |
Every time I am in the Dominican Republic I feel 'at home'. And then when we return 'home' to our house in Michigan, I feel relieved and happy to be there too...as long as I avoid looking at the cold gray sky...still, cats greet us at the door happy to have their humans back and the comfy couch awaits some uninterrupted Netflix binge watching and most importantly, my husband's slows down at that house...in contrast to the house repair machine he becomes in our casa. This probably due to his 9-5 job working for the 'man'. (We wish it was only 9 to 5...sadly, my better half spends too much time fixing the leaks in a sinking ship.) That's the other benefit of life in the Dominican Republic. The daily grind is simpler and focused on the necessities of a simple life. NOT the multi-tasking, split-personality work haze that leaves me on auto-pilot for the part of my life that is actually important. My family.
I know that it has become cliche that we northerners crave the 'simpler' and 'slower' pace of Latin American islands. It's true. I don't know why we are all so consumed with material possessions. We really are a marketer's dream!
It is also true that humans adapt which can mean all too soon we will forget what we hated and only remember the conveniences. I'm sure we will adapt and too soon we will find things that seemed simpler to be nerve-rackingly slow and impossible to accomplish. We like the change of pace when we are at the casa, but that is because the majority of our time in Michigan is spent ...working. And when we are in the Caribbean, we are on vacation...even when there are a ton of jobs to do around the casa. (There are always jobs here at the house in Michigan too...*sigh*)
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| Mom, the kids and me on the malecon in Cabrera |
Then there are the human connections. I have been forming a great group of friends and neighbors in Cabrera. (I think we all ban together out of necessity. We look out for one another and keep tabs and pull together when someone is in trouble.) In Michigan we have friends and neighbors too, plus family living elsewhere in the state. Our human connections are blessed in both places, but we like the international, well-traveled and laid back group we've found in Cabrera. How will I feel when family and my adult children live over a thousand miles away?
I feel torn. Happy in both places, but not fully content in either. I've spent most of my life in Michigan. I have lived abroad. I learned one foreign language and I'm enjoying learning Spanish now. I see others making it work. But, then there are moments when I question if leaving everything behind is really the right choice. I guess I should be comforted that nothing is permanent.
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| Me and my mom on Mackinaw Island, MI |
Many Expats we meet here live a dual life whether due to pension/health care requirements from their home countries or due to having the means to maintain a home back in the states and spend part of the year here. We might be able to do the part time thing, but that is more costly. I think we fall into the retire-to-Caribbean cheap group. Either way, I think my husband needs to unplug from the North for a couple years...and then we'll see our future with fresh eyes.
It's also not lost on me that at the beginning of my blogging adventure we were just starting our journey to find a slice of paradise to call our own...and now I'm sitting in our furnished casa with the trade winds blowing across the Atlantic ocean, up the cliff above the town and through the sheer curtains of my living room, stars just starting to twinkle in the midnight blue sky reflected in the wind-stirred waters of our pool...I have NOTHING to complain about. But, I'll make something up anyway...
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