Screw Your Courage to the Sticking Place

We did it! If it were not for our mentor/savior George W. Bush, we would still be enjoying the unseasonal cold and snow in Seattle. Each morning, the gloom of a late morning would beset me until our northern skies brightened. Thanks to George, we are now officially gone.

Unfortunately, also gone is a good chunk of our nest egg. But with a little help from his friends (and predecessors), George screwed up the fundamentals of the US economy so badly that it became obvious that our time to vamoose had come.

Sometime after narrowly surviving a family reunion in South Carolina, the Lovely Nim and I looked at each other “What are we doing here?” Next came a rapid series of decisions involving job, house, dog, documents, container, cars and family.

Due to some work that I did pro bono on expat economic resources, I was asked to speak to the American Chamber and used the excuse to sneak down to Costa Rica to speak to the American Chamber (Thursday), rent an apartment (Friday), take my buddy, Mike Passage, to the beach to buy us a great home that he and wife Laura could own and pay for (Saturday-Sunday). Whoosh, we did it. Mike & Laura are signing a purchase agreement as I type this.

On February 25th a container was parked in our front yard and filled with our “stuff”. That is a lesson in itself. The Lovely Nim packed most of the really fragile stuff. For everything else, Chief Moving Character and Good Guy, Ian Cockle and his crew took over. This took days (before the 25th). Stuff, stuff and more stuff was packed. Fortunately, I was able to hid in the office for most of this, but found that a ton of garage stuff that could have been recycled into boat anchors was packed. No doubt there is a need for a Model A fender in Costa Rica and some really good skies. On the 26th, the house was empty.

On the 28th, we were airborne. A little back-story on this. Our Atenas house is not completed. The contractor will miss the penalty date (April 20). As I had rented a very nice apartment, the Lovely Nim wanted to make sure that we could survive. That meant luggage and more luggage. The final tally was 10 pieces – eight of which were large “LBC” boxes (let a Filipino explain them to you).

Pictures of my net worth (not much - thanks to George) evaporating danced in my head as we approached the airport. First stop, Continental Pet Services for Sousa. He went amiably into his kennel. He shed no tears. We did! It was like leaving your child for the first day of school. Would he be safe?, fed? Cared for? Do dogs get oxygen? Son Chris remarked that I did not act that broke up on his first day of school – or the time that I tried to trade him to gypsies for a Model A fender.

The Lovely Nim and I were basket cases as we slowly approached the outside Continental luggage counter. Would the agent laugh “Sorry, they may be essential, but they ain’t going.” We were in luck, the outside guy was a Pinoy!

Not all of you are lucky enough to marry a Filipino/a. (There is still time.) As we have traveled to exotic places – like Virginia Mason hospital, the Lovely Nim’s countrymen have gone overboard to treat us well - even pallid me. In this case, we were charged only for four of our six bags and none of them were judged overweight – you bet.

Waiting in Houston for the San José flight, we were paged. “I am sorry Mr. Parsons. Sousa will not be on your flight – Too much luggage.” What can you say? Something about your own petard? With the friendly help of Continental, I made calls to the pet guy in San José. We agreed that we would wait for Sousa’s flight a couple hours later. What can you do? We boarded the plane – that did not move.

Soon the gate came out to the plane and I am paged. Continental just wanted us to know that Sousa was on board. I cannot say too many good things about Continental’s pet transport service. They care.

Landing in Costa Rica more worries. Let’s see. Two large aluminum cases, eight humongous LBC boxes and a 100 lbs of dog/kennel that cannot be released until customs is cleared. Just how many hand carts is that and do they come with a back surgeon? Faster than you case say Pura Vida appear two young Tico porters with big carts. Everything is packed on them. We zip through customs to a waiting taxi van. More fretting as we approach the apartment in Atenas. We rented on the top floor! Again, no problem, the taxi driver and the caretaker Sherpa-ed all the stuff to the apartment. Taxi's in Costa Rica do not expect tips, but sometimes they earn them.

We were home! Thank you George.