Friday, December 16, 2016

Time and Change

 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
Ecclesiastes 3:1

"Everything changes, nothing remains without change."
Buddha
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It is impossible to believe that it is 8 years since we bought our house in Banámichi. So little has changed and yet everything has changed.

Beautiful Banámichi backyard

They say time speeds up as you get older. Our time here has passed in a flash. Things that were once easy and even fun have become more challenging.  With time, not only have we aged, but the house has weathered and aged a bit too. Entropy is a basic law of physics. Everything tends toward disorder and every house will require a certain amount of upkeep. And, after 8 years, it was time to re-surface the roof.

It would have been easy to throw money at the task and hire someone. Except that our buddy Ramón (whose crew renovated the house 8 years ago) is now busy administering public works for the town government. And then, pretty  much anyone else who is competent and physically able is working for the Santa Elena mine. There is literally no one to hire to do the work.

This left us to fall back on good old Mexican-style self-reliance.  We have found the Mexican people to be great at improvising alternatives for things they don't have and repairing broken items themselves in unconventional ways.   Unfortunately, there is not much improvisation when it comes to a roof. Either you do it or you don't, and it definitely needed doing. So it was up to us to get'er done.
Pressure washing the roof (or is it the sky?)

Our house partner Dan prefers to use the very best materials. We can see the logic of that. But at our age, we see the changes which are coming, and we know that it is likely that we have maybe 5 more years here at most, so the roof only needs to last that long until we sell the place. Priorities do change. We bought our paint from the local ferreteria ( hardware store) in Banámichi.

This past year I have been watching with sadness as various friends and acquaintances about my age have increasing health problems or even pass on. I never used to dwell on this stuff, but now aging and death are forcing their way into my awareness. Limitations are becoming inescapable as I feel myself having less energy for activities that have been important to me over the years.

One of my great pleasures here in Banámichi has been keeping the vegetable garden. Each year though, digging it over and moving bags of soil amendments and raking and kneeling become a bit harder. Afterwards, the body protests for several days with aches and exhaustion. This year I found myself thinking that this might be the last time I am able to do this.

Veggie garden ready for the winter

I have always valued self-reliance. As a child I had fantasies about growing my own food and not needing anything from anyone. I would have made a great homesteader back in the day.  I have enjoyed  fermenting vegetables, making homemade sourdough bread, and general do-it-myselfing.
But nowadays, even firing up the adobe oven and making pizza feels like more of an all day challenge and less fun than it once was.

So the guys bit the bullet and re-surfaced the roof. It was 4 days of hard work. My Dan detests that kind of project and hated every minute of it. And now, after the fact, it seems that carrying the 60 pound buckets of elastomeric paint up to the roof may have given him a herniated disc. We can no longer assume that it is OK to push our bodies the way we once did.

Those buckets are bone-crunchers!

Then, right after the last of the paint went on the roof, it started to rain. It rained quite hard for several hours and so it took the paint a very long time to dry. Some of the roof needs repair already where walking on it pulled up the still-wet paint. Oh, and now the tinaco (water tank on the roof) has developed a leak and needs to be repaired. It is a never-ending do-it-yourself project having this house. We are not ready to give up just yet, but time is like a thief in the night, and I when I wake in the wee hours of the morning, I can hear him sneaking around.

I feel very sad about the thought of leaving Banámichi and our little house that I love so much. There is so much that I love here...the people, the town, the sunshine, the peace and quiet, the nearby hot springs. This had been such a rich and fulfilling experience.I am not ready to throw in the towel just yet, but I can see coming just over the horizon. Everything is subject to change and nothing remains static.  Such is the poignancy of life.

Everything ends in its time
The only antidote I know for this sadness is to be as fully alive, present and conscious as possible in every moment. Live well, love greatly and laugh a lot. Then when the thief finally strikes, greet him with recognition and cooperation.




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