No Mexico Trip for Us

Our trip to Mexico was canceled. We planned to on the Pacific Coast in one week for three months, but it’s just not happening this time around. What will be, will be. Here is a quick tale about what happened…

Three months ago we posted an ad on Facebook looking for a house sitter and we had a few good leads. We followed one up, and the perfect individual popped up. Hardy, capable, qualified, with a car, winter experience in Alaska, loves dogs, and he wanted to move to Alaska from Minnesota to live a lifestyle similar to our own. Our two hour Zoom call ended with all of us agreeing to go forward with the gig.

But then things progressed weirdly…

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love God with all of my heart, soul, strength, and mind. And I am a huge fan of people who also do. But I am also an earthly man who tries hard to stick to a schedule and to keep my word. So when I deal with people who don’t stick to their word or are not clear in what they say, it can get me pretty frustrated.

“When will you be up here? We had initially planned for you to stay with us a week before we leave… Can we still make that happen?” I texted.

“As God wills…” he would say. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to drive up with my car or not… don’t know if it will make the drive. I will pray about it…”

“Okay… We’d like to have you here for at least a few days to show you the ropes.”

“I cannot make any guarantees, the only one who can is God.”

“Roger.”

The next text conversation be like…

“How’s it going? When you coming up? We’re getting excited to leave.”

“Staying super busy here. Vehicle won’t make it up… I’ll have to use your vehicle. My friend is a real estate agent in Girdwood who makes a lot of videos for her clients about the houses she is showing. Maybe you could make a video that shows me around the place and the chores, and then upload it for me to watch.”

“If that will help, let’s do it.” I wrote.

“It will.”

“When will you get here?”

“I need to get my dog a kennel for the plane, which will be super stressful. And I don’t have any money for the kennel right now. So I’m praying hard about it. My water was turned off because I couldn’t pay the bill. So now I have to deal with that. But I was reminded in the book of James….”

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah

I recorded a handful of 1 to 2 minute videos and texted them to him. He said they were too pixelated and that he needed new ones uploaded on Dropbox. It was starting to really get to me. Feeling like I had been manipulated, led on, and then bossed around by somebody I hadn’t even met. And while I didn’t mind loaning my old car to a family member or friend, to a complete stranger during the winter made me pretty uneasy. What made me the most upset was his non-direct method to telling me when he would arrive.

The final straw was this… From only three weeks ago…

“How’s it going? When you coming up?” I asked.

“Hi, Bob. God bless. So I will have to leave your place for at least 3 nights each month to do God’s work in Anchorage with all of the homeless people. I can bring my dog, but you’ll have to find somebody to take care of your animals while I’m gone.”

I had to pause for an hour before responding to this one, I was pissed. The nerve of some people.

“So what you’re telling me is that you are going to use my vehicle to drive 200 miles to Anchorage in the middle of winter with your dog… And I have to find another house sitter to take care of the chores while my initial house sitter is gone?”

“That’s correct.”

“I need to think about this one…”

After talking with Savanna, my trusted friend and mentor, Barry White, my brother, and my counselor- we decided that we were not comfortable trusting our home, our belongings, and most importantly, our animal’s lives, with a person who seemed to be showing signs of a manic episode.

So I told him that we canceled the trip, and he responded with some passive-aggressive, manipulative bullshit about how he had spent $5,500 to prepare to come here, and that we had all agreed to keep our words and that he was keeping his while we were not keeping ours. Blah, blah, blah…

For the next few days we put the word out to other sitters we know and people in the community, and we didn’t have any solid leads. So we canceled our reservations completely, darn it… And now we’re staying home for the winter.

And you know what, while we are all really excited about being here for the snow, free time, fun, friends, $ making opportunities, and our new work/exercise schedule… it seems that our bodies and minds were preparing to bask in the Mexican sun for three months with few chores, dishes, or food preparation. So it’s been kind of a difficult few weeks after finding that out… but it’s all good. We’re getting through it, we’re staying positive, and we are doing new things around here.

My big brother, James, left a few days ago to spend the winter in the Philippines. That has left an empty yurt here on the land and a quiet space that was once filled with his wonderful presence. While we are super excited about his new adventure, we sure miss him.

I’ll end this weekly Sunday blog post with a little reflection… I have always heard the saying, “Good work is hard to find” and I have come to believe that statement is one hundred percent true. We are not giving up on finding the right family/person/persons to share our property with for the short-term or long-term, it’s just not going to happen this October. Thankfully, we love our home, community, property, friends, and endless opportunities for fun and fellowship right here. Not to mention, we are so damn grateful to live in a safe place.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention- since we are not going to Mexico, we got goats…

Until next time… baaahhh on!