the surfboard quiver1
Today marks four years since I’ve been living here in Mexico. If it weren’t my own life, I wouldn’t believe it. Has it been so long? Where has the time gone? Why isn’t my spanish better than it is?
A curious thing has happened along my four-year journey. I am no longer the person I was, when I packed up my stuff at the advice of my parents, put my life on hold and moved to Mexico. What started out as a “surfing sabbatical” of sorts became so much more – and more permanent. Mexico has changed me, probably in more ways than I am consciously aware of. If for some reason I where to move back to the United States, I’m sure I could fit back in to that existence with relative ease. But without noticing, the US has changed just as much as I have. It is no longer the place I left it.
I love Mexico – but in many ways I’m living in a country that is still not my own. I spend each day trying to immerse myself more fully into its magical culture but to say that I am fully immersed or somehow ‘mexicoified’ is not being truthful. I am still very foreign, which is not to say that I’ve failed at ‘becoming Mexican’ on any level – that was never my goal. It’s to say that I’m not quite American and not quite Mexican. The borders between countries are now slightly more arbitrary things, except in the hassle it takes when crossing them, the pleasant differences in language and culture, and the changes in infrastructure upkeep. I’m a citizen of both and neither, simultaneously.
Marcia and I are coming up on our two-year anniversary in December. In January we will welcome our son into the world. These are not indications of a temporary journey; these are milestones of the adventure of a lifetime. And so in some ways, the four-year mark is a fitting time to acknowledge that the “sabbatical”, as a temporary time and place, is over and the adventure is just beginning.
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On another note, this is my 2096th post on ‘Quality Peoples’. I crossed the 2000 mark some time in June, I think. I arrived in Mexico, in late August 2004 and started the blog proper in October. So, anniversary and celebrations all ’round.
- Clockwise:
- Al Merrick CSI Flyer 2 6′2″
- ATL 6′0″
- San Miguel 9′0″
- Roberts 7′6″ Funboard
- Zippi Fish Twin Keel 5′7″
- Michel Junod 6′0″ Singlefin Egg ↩
Congrats Ed, you’re celebrating a lot of milestones this year. Bottom line is, no matter where you live, it’s what you choose to do and it’s the people you choose to share it with that make it special. That creates your true identity, no? Sounds like you’ve accomplished that beautifully!