Small World

Ever have one of those days when you've moved 1800 miles away from everyone you ever knew and then people walk back into your life?

Likely not, but that's what happened to us recently.

On Independence Day weekend San Miguel is typically full of people.  As one of the locations that fostered the independence movement - including Miguel Allende, who lost his head for his efforts - people tend to flock here for the festivities.

So Michael is walking into Centro (it's about a 25-minute walk from our home to the Jardin), when he looks up and says: "Jose!"  Who should it be but one of our favorite waiters from a Mexican restaurant in a suburb in the San Fernando Valley (Chatsworth), nearly over the mountain ridge into the next county.  (We spent a goodly amount of time there.)

His family (Jose's) is from San Miguel and we had even considered renting one of their properties when first contemplating the move SOB.  And there he was walking along the Ancha with family members.

Then, more recently, we got an email from a friend we had first made when we moved to San Miguel.  We went everywhere with her - fund raisers, Los Milagros (the Miracles) for guitar music and botanas every Sunday afternoon, restaurant meals, and gringo gatherings (more about that later). 

She had moved away from San Miguel, looking for something she hadn't found here.  Although we thought that she had moved south to the Pacific Ocean coast of Mexico, it turns out that she had rented there, moved to southern Alabama, spent a couple of months in Costa Rica....you name it.  And here she was back in San Miguel for a month before going on a Caribbean cruise.

So we did lunch and caught up on the last year for all of us.  We think we'll be able to meet up again the day after we return from our vacation.  Yes, even retirees take vacations. It's just too perfect here in SMA - you need some time away to realize just how wonderful it is.

The best part of this hiatus is that I'll be out of touch with the internet for most of the 3 weeks, and thus off duty as a moderator for a Yahoo! Group about the town.  It can get a little 'close' if you know what I mean.

In the meanwhile, Michael is finishing up the last file he's working on (it just came in today and we leave tomorrow) as well as trimming up the dogs.  Our sitter has seen them already, but it never hurts to brush them out and trim them down some more! 

And that's true for all  of us!