Pulling Away From the Curb

 Tears well up in both our eyes, we kiss, and smiles cross our faces. Ty lifts his hand and turns the key, shifts the car into drive and slowly pulls away from the curb. We are relieved to be on our way. Tasks and ‘’to do’’ lists are behind us now, some things left undone. What started four years ago with “Yes, it would be cool to live in Mexico” was now becoming a reality.                                                                  

 One morning a few months before, we had hammered a “For Sale by Owner “sign into the freshly mowed front yard of our house in Midland. Within thirty days we would walk the empty rooms, with lumps in our throats, recalling all the happy times we had shared with our family and friends within those walls. We were waiting for the new owner to arrive for the final walk thru. What we hadn’t sold or given away or packed in our little SUV was neatly boxed, inventoried, and stacked in storage. We had enjoyed a wonderful holiday season, and our daughter had cooked her first Thanksgiving Dinner while we were waiting for the sale to close and getting everything in order. It would be the last holidays with family for awhile and Ashley made it memorable.

Ty navigated the familiar streets of Midland with ease as we left town, both of us quiet, in our own thoughts. Excited, as we both knew, nothing would be familiar to us for a long, long time.

 At the end of our first day of traveling, we had reached Laredo, Texas. On the balcony at the Historic La Posada Hotel, overlooking the Rio Grande, we watched a very large Mexican flag wave on the other side of the river. It seemed so close, yet another world away. The bridge was busy with cars going both ways. The next morning, we would cross that bridge, headed south, receive our Tourist Visas and car permit, and head on down the road…......