I'm going to wax philosophical here for a minute. People have asked me how

we could have sold everything, given up a life in the US, and moved to

Belize. Many people admit that they just couldn't do that. I think about

it a lot because I have done it TWICE now!!

COMMUNITY

We have laws regarding married couples that contain the phrase "community

property." This implies that the couple are a community, eh? And they are.

Charlotte and I were a "community" when we sold out, packed up, and came

down here and established a new life here in Belize. That community makes a

lot of things possible. You are united, "two against the world," as it

were, and it empowers you. I think that couples who come here will have a

much easier time of it, particularly if they are of one mind, as Charlotte

and I were when we came to Belize.

Single people have a tougher time. They need the hope of integrating into

an existing community. Sometimes, the ex-pat community is the "community"

that they can integrate with. There are a few brave souls who hook up with

a local woman -- either Gringo or Belizean (or Salvadorian or whatever) who

gives them the community they need to stand against the world for a time.

In some other cases, the person simply begins to drink -- to cope -- and

becomes one of the (too many) Gringo drunks who manage to get along by

drowning their worries and fears and loneliness in rum & Belikin Beer.

In my case, I have lost the community I started with. (Charlotte and me.)

There is a community of Expats here, but am I a member? They had a big

Thanksgiving bash right after I got here. Maybe I was invited, and maybe

not. (I didn't go.)

I have been told, by both Charlotte and one of her friends, that I don't

have any friends left. I do SEEM to have friends, but do they constitute

"community" for me? I may have made a terrible mistake -- giving up the

wonderful Community I could count on in Colorado Springs for an ephemeral

hope of Community here in Corozal.

As usual, only the Lord knows. He has indicated, more than once, that He

wants me here in Belize, and, yes, in Corozal. I am playing the cards as

they fall. I will let you know -- as time goes by -- how it turns out!

Rick

Just a little bit lonely in Corozal

Click here for the next Chronicle. 

Afterward:  This chronicle seemed to strike a responsive chord in my readers & friends, and I was overwhelmed with messages reassuring me that I was part of both the online community and a number of other communities of friends from my past.   

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