It was more efficient to run portions of the route.
I still remember the feeling of those crisp mornings and hitting a running stride where each stride felt like pure joy.
I am beginning to feel that way about this move to Mexico. If this were a steeplechase, I would have tripped over a few fences and slipped in a pond or two.
But Friday I knew things were going to be all right.
I drove to Manzanillo for a followup appointment with Jiggs's veterinarian. Jiggs's legs passed muster, but the veterinarian wants to see him in two weeks to excise two growths.
While Jiggs was getting a bath, I stopped by Mailboxes, etc. to see if I had any mail. I did.
In fact, I had a huge packet of mail -- as you can see in the photograph at the top of the blog.
During the early 1970s, I lived in Greece for a year. Telephone connections in those days were not good, at least, in my part of Greece. But they were expensive.
My sole umbilical with friends and family was a small postal box. I literally lived for the moment every day when the mail would be placed in the boxes, and I could retrieve the flotsam and jetsam that floated my way from across the Atlantic.
I felt exactly the same way when the clerk handed me that huge packet. Because I pay for the box by weight, I knew this would be an expensive care package.
A large portion of the contents was the type of mail that makes its way from the box to the trash can with hardly a glance. Well, that is what would happen at home. With this mail, I opened everything and looked at it -- even the cruise brochures.
But there were true treasures. Magazines and newspapers.
I have managed to avoid most news stories for the past two months. My sabbatical is over. I now have two months of reading -- and the regular flow should start soon.
Last Sunday, our church congregation discussed what it means to seek justice in a society where we are expatriates. I think I now have a better answer.
In one of my Salvation Army newspapers, I found an answer for me. The Salvation Army is starting an initiative on social justice through an International Social Justice Commission.
The commission's eight goals are immense:
- End hunger and extrme poverty
- Universal education
- Gender equality
- Child health
- Maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases
- Environmental sustainability
- Global partnership
OK. It sounds highly idealistic. But the Salvation Army is not known for aiming low.
Getting involved with the commission may be exactly what I need to get my full stride in retirement. Everything on that list is an issue that my Mexican neighbors face -- some more than others.
That packet brought great news -- and perhaps a way for me to truly hit my retirement stride.
