2WannaBRetireesinPanama: JUST AROUND THE CORNER

For some reason, I always feel that the end of the year is a drop off. The last day is just another day-December 31st. And the same for January 1st. But it feels like we all go around another corner to start over. And this coming year (in just three days), the corner Ray and I are soon to go around is a bit scary. And just a little bit more than scary, it will be very overwhelming. But most importantly, our going around the corner will be extremely exciting. This coming year is when we retire and move to Panama. But first things first.

Yesterday, we spent a short time at CarMax test driving a car. I liked the car, and I really liked the salesman. They mean what they say when they advertise that the customer won't be hassled. Ray had researched the car, knew which one to have brought up from the back of the lot, and off we went on our drive. Once the drive was over, we took the salesman's card, and he let us go just like that. Tomorrow Ray will test drive another one that is at a dealership close to his office. This is knowing that tomorrow he will go to work. The flu has hit hard here. Christmas Day our daughter's boyfriend spent the day in bed at my sister's house. The next day, Carly left me after a few hours of shopping, went to the mall to do some more shopping, and then she was sick in bed. And on Friday morning, Ray woke up sick. He is still recovering today (seems to be tired without energy). I am loaded up on Airborne!

This morning we continued breaking down the Christmas decorations. I had started taking some of them down on Friday outside when Ray was home sick. It was a gorgeous day to do it. Sunny and in the mid-fifties. Today it made sense to clean up the inside, since it is raining hard all day and only forty degrees. It took much longer to break down and put things away this time because we had a "throw away" pile, a "give to Carly" pile, and a "sell the rest" pile. Oh, and a small pile of things I want to take to Panama. Carly had said she was setting her classroom up with snowmen, so I mostly saved anything having to do with snowmen for her to go through. If she doesn't want it, then it can go to the sell pile. And her boyfriend is helping a friend out with an estate sale nearby next weekend. This friend owns an estate sale company, I have been in email contact with him already, and here is hoping he will come by in the next few weeks to evaluate our home and its contents and to consult with us about an "everything must go" sale!

The other thing I am spending time on over the next few days is reading a book! But not any book. There is an Expat that has lived in Panama for nine years, and he is writing a second edition to his book about retiring and living in Panama. He chose thirty people to edit the book and add comments to the rough draft. It is about four hundred pages long--I have read one hundred so far. Then, I can also add a "blurb about me" if I want. Look out! What will I say! The deadline is in two weeks. Then, maybe once I have read this book, I can finish reading the one I started in September (having nothing to do with Panama). Because we haven't gone to the lake house many weekends this past fall and winter so far, I stay busy being at my house. Reading happens while waiting for appointments or for the movie to start (Kindle on a smartphone is so fantastic. The book is always available!). So here's to our rounding the corner into 2014! I hope to stay healthy. We leave for Panama in less than two weeks! I will definitely detail the day to day events while we meet our attorney and work towards that temporary visa. This last trip of ours to Panama is going to be huge!