A few days in East Texas

My new life has begun, well sort of. I will be in Texas for another 3-4 weeks before I depart to Guatemala, yep, just me and my backpack.

I spent a couple of days in a suburb near Houston with my mom. I unpacked the trailer and left a few things in her garage. I couldn't find anything, I had stuff strewn in boxes and bags throughout the garage. If I repeat myself with the same entries, please forgive me. It rained like crazy there. I had forgotten how much I enjoy the rain. It never rains in ABQ. Anytime you see the initials ABQ, I am referring to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Now I am in East Texas visiting my sister's kids and grand kids it's hard to believe I am actually a great aunt. My great nieces and nephews are adorable. I have promised my 5-year old great nephew I will jump on his trampoline with him today. He's not going to let me forget. It's a beautiful crisp day here in the country. I actually walked to the post office yesterday to mail some bills and found a cute little coffee shop. Cows are mooing, and the new Boxer puppy is whining. It's going to take me a while to relax.

I'm researching Spanish schools. Antigua Guatemala has something like 50-schools in a population of 30,000 people. I had met a young gentleman back in November in Antigua and he just wrote me yesterday to give me a lead on a good teacher. We are communicating. She even has a website, but I needed a strong magnifying glass to read it becuase the print is so tiny.

3-days pulling a trailer is not fun

Following my garage sale, the trip to Guatemala and then a huge estate sale I am out of the adobe and have left ABQ. I wasn't quite prepared to sale everything I own in 3-days. My plan was to stay in ABQ until the end of February, then head to Guatemala. I slept on a massage table for a week because I had no furniture. Once it sold, I had to get out.

I hadn't prepared myself mentally for the downsize to take place. Giving up my two kitties was the most painful thing I have ever done in my life. I felt I abandoned my children. A business associate took the boys and I know they will be happy once they get over the shock. Her family will take very good care of my beloved kitties. Now I remember why I don't ever cry. It's too painful, it hurts to cry. I still cry every time I think about them.

I was elated about the sale, that part felt good. It was surprisingly easy to go from 3000 square feet of jammed packed closets, drawers, cabinets and every inch of wall space filled to............ everything I own fitting into a 40 square foot U-Haul! I feel 10-pounds lighter as the stress of the huge financial burden I had every month is now gone.

It took us three days to get to Texas with me pulling a small trailer. The first night in Muleshoe, Texas, the second night in Gatesville. My sister and I caravan ed to my mothers house so I could use her house to store the few things for free that I decided to keep.

I'm trying to relax and it will take some time to not have to massage, clean house, price, pack or run errands. I haven't even made my arrangements to Guatemala yet either. Soon though.................21-30 days and I'll be a vagabond.

I'm already struggling as I can't find anything. Everything I own is in a box in my mom's garage. What happened to my underwear? I had to buy a few pairs as they have all been misplaced. Once I buy a backpack I'll be more organized, I'll have to be, My new life has started.

Motion now in place to close the business

I had some lovely guests who visited Your Private Adobe three times in two weeks. They fell in love with my concept, the treatment's, the way I made them feel and the way I decorate. They asked if I would consider running their spa in Guatemala. Of course I said yes.............6-weeks later, over Thanksgiving, I was in Guatemala.

I could write an entire blog on my trip. The job opportunity did not work out. We were not a good fit. But it was wonderful experience and it made me want to start traveling again and not be such a slave to my business.

There have been a three things in my life that molded my desires to travel. One my dad died of a massive heart attack at 50. Two, I spent a summer in Singapore with my sister at age 17. And thirdly, I worked in retirement communities as one of my past careers. Couples would scrimp and save for years so they could travel when they retired. Invariably, one would get sick, or one would die and they never as a couple got to travel. Sure they had enough money to live in this lovely retirement community. I decided I would not live like this! I may be a bag lady when I am older, but I want to see the world now. I honestly thought I would never get married. I always wanted to be the eccentric old aunt who traveled the world and had exciting and wild stories to tell her friends and family. I never wanted a home, I wanted to be a gypsy. What happened to my dream over the years? I just got caught up in the rat race like everyone else.

I've given notice. The owner of the house has put it up for sale. He said, let's try it for 60-days, then if it doesn't sale, I'll re-lease the house. So since late September I have been downsizing. I had a garage sale. These were items I was going to take to Goodwill. You don't see garage sales on my busy street and we had to almost direct traffic so shoppers could get in the parking lot. It was a huge success and I got rid of a lot of stuff I did not want.

Oops, I lost my password

I haven't written in my blog in ages. So much has happened. My last blog I talked about my Anniversary Party. The anniversary came and went. My what a difference a few months makes. After much consideration, I decided to close Your Private Adobe. It was just too much work for the amount of money I could make. I was unable to get the volume need to offset the high overhead here. I had several months of debilitating headaches from inflammation along the spine and neck. It scared the hell out of me. How could I meet expenses if I could not give most of the massages? I started setting things in motion to close in late September. More to follow.