The beginning of a new adventure - Widowhood 101

I'm excited! We're going on an adventure.

It's time to say "Adios." Sparky, Boo, and I are leaving Isla Mujeres on Monday December 23rd, for a different Mexican experience. We are moving to San Miguel de Allende.

Living twelve years on a tropical island, just steps away from the beautiful Caribbean Sea, has been a life-changing opportunity. 

As of this week, our little ocean-front casa has been purchased by Tracy and Karl from Wisconsin.

The infamous golf-cart-trap at the north end of Medina Ave.

Despite their recent and hilarious discovery that golf carts can't swim through rain-flooded streets, Tracy and Karl are looking forward to their new adventure. I hope you will give them a warm island-welcome.

Our first experience with this little Caribbean paradise started seventeen years ago when Lawrie and I stayed at Villa Makax on the western side of Isla Mujeres. We later stayed on the Caribbean side in 2003 and again in 2005 before deciding to buy a lot and build our home. 

2007 builder and dear friend Patricio Yam giving us the keys

In the winter of 2008 we threw ourselves into retirement, island living, and just having fun. 

Lawrie was always the 'social butterfly' willing to chat up anyone, to tell them how much we loved living on a tropical island in Mexico. 

He happily told everyone he met how much we enjoyed the culture, the people, the food and the beautiful turquoise Caribbean Sea. We made many friends, from both the born-on-the-island local community and the recent arrivals from Canada, USA, Britain, Scandinavia, Europe, and Japan.

2011 Evan and Ethan being greeted by their granddad Elmo

Our two grandsons experienced Mexico, Elmo-style, with their fun-loving grandfather meeting them at the Ultramar in his authentic Elmo costume. That costume was repeatedly used to greet siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews, until it became the centre piece for the Elmo's Christmas Caravan - La Caravana Navideña de Elmo.

We created great memories, showing our grandsons Xcaret, Xhel-Ha, Xplor, Garafon Park, Tulum, Zama Beach Club, and the sugar-white sands of playa norte. We also organized an island-wide pirate treasure hunt for the entire family. 

Custom-made bootie bags for the younger generation!

Son, John, really enjoyed floating in his Mexican office - our swimming pool. 

We also amused John and Maia by getting hopelessly lost in the backroads between Valladolid and Izamal, while the gas-gauge alarm pinged in increasingly shorter intervals .... low on gas, really low on gas, Hey, wake up! You're running on fumes. 

John's GPS skills on his phone saved the four of us from certain death from a lack of cervesa. 

Maia,"Do they have any idea where we are?" John, "Nope!"

Our year-around entertainment consisted of the annual cultural events: New Year's Eve, Carnaval, Día de la Independencia, Día de los Muertos plus many other parades, processions and fiestas. 

We danced on the sand, in the street, at beach bars, and under the moonlight on our ocean-side patio. 

There were many laughter-filled neighbourhood parties, family birthdays, and New Year Eve's celebrations at our house. Siblings, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews, cousins, and many old friends visited the island. 

One Canadian friend remarked, "all you seem to do is party." Well, maybe, but posting the celebration photos was far more interesting than uploading pictures of our day to day routine of cooking meals, making the bed, or sweeping the floors.

Waiting for the lights on the Eiffel Tower in Paris France

And living in paradise didn't stop us from taking a vacation from our vacation. We traveled back to Canada every second year to visit with our families and as many friends as we could squeeze into the time available. 

We traveled with Lawrie's siblings to Desolation Sound Canada in 2011,  Europe for his 70th birthday in 2012, and the Florida Keys in 2013. Recently he and I celebrated his 75th and my 66th birthdays in Argentina. 

July 1st 2017 at Javi's Cantina on Isla Mujeres

As many of you know, Lawrie, my adventure-partner passed away on September 3rd of 2018. I was convinced that remaining on Isla Mujeres with my network of supportive friends was the best place for me. 

However, I finally realized I am being crushed by the  powerful memories of a romantic and joyful life. He is on every street corner and in every restaurant. He shares my morning coffee, my afternoon meal, and my evening glass of wine. 

In June of this year, I listed our home with my friends at Mundaca Real Estate. Within three days I had a good offer that I accepted. And then I waited, and waited, and waited.

It's a lengthy and frustrating process to sell real estate in Mexico, especially when the deal spans three countries: American buyers, a Canadian seller, and Mexican property. The folks at Mundaca patiently pushed the deal forward one document at a time. In the end it all came together. 

I am ready to start writing the next chapter of my life.

2008 Our first experience of San Miguel de Allende

The first chapter spanned from childhood to high-school graduation. The second chapter was my first marriage at age nineteen, when I mistook the discovery of sex for true love. The third and most exciting chapter was my almost forty-year-love-affair with Lawrie. 

So, now I am heading into a new adventure, to experience new places, and perhaps write a second mystery series. I am still working on book #6 of the Isla Mujeres Mystery series, Treacherous Isla, but due to the recent changes my writing schedule has been a bit erratic. Be patient. It will happen. 

Thank you all for being a part of our lives. I'm certain I will run into many of you again, either here on Isla Mujeres, or in San Miguel de Allende.

Adios y grandes abrazos
Goodbye and big hugs

Lynda, Sparky, and Boo the Cat

~

The quote below was always one of our favourites. Thanks to Julie and Rob Goth for reminding me ...

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”  ― Hunter S. Thompson,

Isla Mujeres Mystery novels - available on Amazon.com

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