On Arriving at Eighty

Never thought I'd see this number of birthdays. I am happy to report, I am now eighty! I am drinking coconut juice from a green coconut at my new friend's farm in Toledo Province, Belize.

When I get myself moved in and settled a bit, I will go to market and find a steady supply of this refreshing and healthy juice to have on hand at all times.

Being eighty is usually followed by but you don't look eighty. Or look folks this woman is eighty! Or this woman is going to drive to Belize at eighty!

EIGHTY

My impetus for this move is eighty! Why? Because I must do what I should have done about five years ago and move to Belize. So it is NOW.

I have lived twenty years longer than my brothers, my mother and my father. I am the only living member of my immediate family except , of course, for children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Sometimes I think I might be doing this move for my siblings and my Mom if they had ever enjoyed wander lust the way I do.

Friends posted this quote on FaceBook a few days ago and it fits as an explanation for why I am finding my pathway to Belize.

“I counted my years and discovered that I have less time to live from here on out than what I have lived until now.

I feel like that kid who won a pack of sweets: the first ones ate them with pleasure, but when he realized there were few left he began to taste them intensely.

I no longer have time for endless meetings where statute, rules, procedures and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be achieved.

I no longer have time to support dumb people who, despite their chronic age, haven't grown up.

My time is too short: I want the essence, my soul is in a hurry. I don't have much sweets in the package anymore.

I want to live next to human, very humane people, who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their triumphs and who take on their own responsibilities. This is how you defend human dignity and move towards truth and honesty

It’s the essential that makes life worth living.

I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch hearts, people who have been taught to grow up with gentle touches of their soul.

Yes, I'm in a hurry, I'm rushing to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.

I don't mean to waste any of the leftover sweets. I'm sure these will be delicious, a lot more than the ones I've eaten so far.

My goal is to reach a satisfied and peaceful end with my loved ones and my conscience.

We have two lives and the second one starts when you realize you only have one. "

Mario of Andrade

May it be so.