Yes, I Am Here

Where have you been?

Good Lord. It has been ten months since I last posted on my Substack. Time flies when you’re having fun. This interim period has been full of tremendous ups and horrendous downs. In other words, tempus fugit. (Look it up.)

Where to begin? Carmen and I are still living in our wonderful place by the beach in Costa Rica, ever deeper in love with each other, and having more fun than ever. My last post was about our new electric car. It has proven to be so much fun that we bought a second one. Carmen is using it to commute to a dance studio, where she is now teaching four or more ballet classes every week, and loving the creative output. Our little end-of-the-road paradise has never experienced a world class ballet star before, so her skills as a dancer and teacher are quite a gift to her students

Me? Well, my lack of postings to the contrary, I have been writing like a madman. After starting a local writer’s group a couple of years ago, I decided to turn the reins over to someone else. I needed to get back to my own writing, instead of spending all my time creating for the group. When the next leadership decided to take the group on a journey away from the purity of writing, I found I no longer fit. Hey, things change. No hard feelings. It was actually a blessing in disguise for me (as most seemingly dark moments turn out to be) because I once again was able to return to the solitary practice of being a writer. You see, in the three years before I started the writing group, I wrote five books. In the two years I ran the writer’s group, I wrote exactly none. Now, since my departure from the fold, I have again written one new book (look for it to publish in fall) and I’m deep into writing a second. Plus, I’m back, looking at the world from my Distant Perspective. Writing, it turns out, is a “Party of One.”

I mentioned the downs, so I guess I must acknowledge at least the saddest of them. Carmen’s dear mamita passed rather peacefully at the age of 91. In a nasty bit of timing, Carmen spent this past Christmas Day with family members in Chile, saying goodbye. I loved mama. She spoke no English and my Spanish is less than eloquent (although improving every day) but we still managed to share some good times and many laughs together. She visited us for long periods of time over the past couple of years and loved hanging at the beach in her beach-accessible wheelchair.

Mama Ally, you will always be loved, and we will miss you every day.

There are many more adventures upon which I have embarked, and we’ll get to them. In time. Just know, my dear friend, that I haven’t been terribly obvious of late, but I also haven’t forgotten you.