Unexpected Twists

Well, as John Lennon has pointed out, life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.  I have been thinking about John Lennon more these days and listening to his music.  Perhaps this is because he was shot on my 30^th birthday.  As I approach 60, it’s difficult to believe that was 30 years ago. 

Anyway, back to the unpredictability of life, we have decided to postpone our trip north because Pixie injured herself Sunday night.  We were walking back to the car after viewing the fireworks at the fiesta when she fell on the cobblestones and hit her face.  She knocked out her front tooth, bruised her lip, sprained her finger and banged up her knee.  Our wonderful dentist met us at his office at 1:00 AM and was able to reinsert the tooth.  He thinks it has a good chance of “taking” since the bone did not appear damaged.  But she will need a root canal in a few days to help prevent infection.  Mostly she needs healing time.  She can’t eat solid food and is still very uncomfortable.  So we have decided to postpone the trip until January or February.  The dentist, Alberto Garcia from Chapala, would not even take any payment for his two hours of emergency care.  “You are my friend,” he pointed out, “And I didn’t really do much.”  Not do much?  I beg to differ.  We will be sure to buy him a nice Christmas gift. 

The other big news is that our house sale is now assured, regardless of the peso rate, because we have decided to accept payment in pesos.  We can invest the money in banks here with a guarantee of 8%+ returns, then, when we choose to, change the money into dollars and transfer it to our bank in the US.  The danger of this is that there could always be a devaluation in the peso, but that seems unlikely for awhile.  So now we will definitely close on the house and move into the village on December 14.  I’ll post photos of the new digs after that.

Despite Pixie’s accident, we had the 60^th birthday bash for me at Delicias Restaurant in Chapala last night.  We had over 50 friends gather for the occasion.  Unbeknownst to me, Pixie had asked our children, Eric, Wendy, and Cassie to each write a letter to me which could be read at the party.  She was going to read them, but could not, obviously.  My friend and MC for the evening, Fred Harland, read them.  They each wrote beautiful, eloquent letters that left many of us teary-eyed.  I was blown away.  How do I deserve such wonderful children?  The party was a great success with the staff of the restaurant preparing a wonderful Mexican buffet including hand-made tortillas, chicken mole, pork chile verde, chicken fajitas, frijoles, chile rajas, soy with brown sauce, red rice, and chile rellenos.  Four of the dishes were vegetarian; remarkable for a Mexican meal!  Some of my writer friends composed poems for me, including Don Edwards, Mark Sconce, Susan Wagner, and Mel Goldberg who wrote an Italian sonnet in honor of the occasion.  Here are some photos from the evening:

  

So, as Pixie convalesces and we putter at some remaining packing, we are concentrating on making the move and starting to think about when we can reschedule our trip.  By the way, we received full refunds from American Airlines, with no penalty for cancelling.  Amazing!  


If you are interested in seeing two short films of the castillo fireworks in Ajijic Sunday night, go to this link and click on the film photo: http://picasaweb.google.com/110328210164523410324/AjijicCastillosNovember2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCPXNhsLyzf6rbw#