I Might as Well Just Say It...

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I've been holding out on you for awhile now. Seth and I are moving back to the US in a couple of weeks. Nothing bad. We just decided it was best for our family and for Taelyn to grow up in the US. We have loved our time here. We have created a life here. We have many good friends. I would say that even our culture shock wasn't really that bad or at least not as bad as I've heard some expats experience. Maybe its because we found the right community. Maybe its because we spend our time with Mexicans and not other expats. I don't know. But, I do know that I'm very sad to leave, and a part of me feels like I have so much more to do here.

Right now, everything is a waiting game for us on what we will do exactly, and where we will eventually end up in the US. Seth has a project that he is waiting for approval and funding which hopefully will come through in the next week. If not, then I will go back to work in retail. Although, I don't really want to go back to
work, I can make a very good income with insurance which is what's most important in the US. If Seth gets funded, then we will stay in Dallas for about a year and then eventually move somewhere by the coast since we know that we are happiest by the ocean. If no funding, then that final moving plan may be extended to a year or two.

Since we have announced that we were moving back all my friends and neighbors have quickly been inviting us to dinner and lunches. I think that is so special and unique to the Mexican people. The women desperately want to show me one last recipe from their home region, and the men want to sit with Seth for a beer or two or three. Luckily, I've had a chance to capture some of these times with them and will make posts over the next week. Honestly, I'm tearing up a bit right now as I right these words. I see PDC as my second home and hope that we will be able to return in the future to visit.

So this is what's going on with us in the next week and half. We are waiting on the proper visa paperwork for our vehicle. (That's another story.) We're booked solid for the next 4 days with friends and neighbors. We have a neighborhood bar-b-que tonight because who doesn't love a bar-b-que. The Andole Bazaar is tomorrow which I have mucho, mucho junk stuff to sell. Packing, packing, packing. One last trip to my favorite beach, Akumal. Then a short trip back to the US to drop Taelyn off at my parents, and then I come back to the Mexico by myself. This will be weird because it will be the first time I've traveled by myself in over 2 years, and the first time I've been separated from Taelyn since she was born. I'm working through it. Then once our visa paperwork comes through, Seth and I drive back through Mexico to Dallas with the dogs. Whew! What a week we have in store.

To make this short story long because that's how I do things. I am heartbroken, but I know that it will be best for Taelyn. I'm uncertain of what the future has in store for us, and I'm trying not to hyperventilate thinking about it. Mostly, I'm just trying to appreciate all that I have learned about myself in the last 2 years of living abroad and cherish all the memories we have made together as a family. It started out as a dream walking on a beach in the Cayman Islands, to Panama, to Mexico, and now full circle back to Dallas. And it was fantastic!