Back to the Land

My friend Pearl said that she "needs to go back to the land ... like her forefathers, she will buy some land by a river and raise cows and goats and do her own butchering and raise a passel of kitties. "


This made me laugh on a couple of different levels.
One - she is just plain old funny. Clever, silly and funny.
 I need Pearl, she reminds me that I need to smile and laugh more.
There are days that I have a worried face, a grumpy face and often a pissed -off, leave me alone face ... but Pearl makes me laugh.

Then I started thinking about what she said and what we are about to do.

We are going back to the US.
"To the land" .. we will live in the country this time and there will be a river somewhere nearby and while I have no intention of raising cows or goats and God Forbid I ever butcher anything except for flies and mosquitoes , I will be happy to raise kitties and a puppy or two.

I grew up in the country, my father, my uncles and cousins went hunting.
I hated it.
I wanted to live in a city.
I wanted to dress nice every day.
I wanted to go to concerts and libraries that are huge and have enough books to keep me reading for at least 50 years.
I wanted to see people that were different from me, who spoke other languages and wore different sorts of clothing.
I wanted to maybe possibly learn another language , see foreign movies and hail a taxi .
(I grew up watching That Girl)

So  here I am.
I live in a massive city.
In another country.
On another continent .. never say we do things halfway.
I hail taxis , I walk in huge parks and take photos all the time and shop in small markets where the produce comes in by truck with dirt still on it, feathers on the eggs and the truck looks like it rolled out of the showroom in 1952.

My neighbors say hola ! como esta ? and I said Muy Bien !
The doormen wave and smile.
The shopkeepers know us.

The restaurants we go to are comfortable, the waiters know us, some of them even know what we want.
I have to remember to order something different now and then, you know, just to keep them on their toes.
No point in being too reliable.
We are , after all, in Argentina.
Where it is always a nice surprise when things work properly, things are on time and that the price is the same two weeks in a row.

So here we are , waiting for our realtor to bring a person to our home , who will fall in love and make us an offer we cannot refuse.
So far we have refused a few.

And then we will pack up and fly away, back to where we came from , but not.
Instead of the City, we will go to the Country.

I can't wait !