Twenty three degrees Fahrenheit, with a "real feel" temperature of eighteen… Good Grief... It's been snowing on and off here for nearly a week, with no end in sight. Eight to twelve inches they said. Try more like three feet with snow drifts of five feet or so... What a mess. The driveway is frozen, the sidewalk is under a foot or more of fresh powder, hidden beneath that is a nice fat layer of ice to make sure you slide from the front door to your four wheel drive vehicle. What's that you say no four wheel drive vehicle? Well then forget it; you won't be going anywhere until it thaws.
It was always my husband's dream to live here in the shadow of beautiful Mount Shasta, California. We took what few trips we could afford in our early years together from our home in Sacramento, California up here in the warm summer months to camp and fish. His dream came true. We've been living here for close to six years now. Our family and his business are thriving.
We came from down in the valley below, where February may have called for long sleeves, but you could be guaranteed that gardeners everywhere were already turning the soil. Summer time temperatures peaked in the middle of July, sometimes soaring into the 113 degree range. I remember people boasting that it was so hot outside you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. It really was possible, although I could never figure out why you'd want to. As a youngster in that climate, with little to compare to, you just accepted it and wore as little as possible. Your skin would turn a lovely golden brown and your eyelashes would be tinted by the summer sun. I thrived in it. The weather was hot, lovely...
I'm freezing, it's that simple. Yes, our little home in the woods is perfect, you simply cannot beat having 29 acres for a house full of teenagers to run off their energy on but it's so cold! I can't help it; my old bones protest this weather so much! The view is spectacular. From nearly every window in the house you can see mountain ranges, Black Butte, The Eddys, and of course, majestic Mount Shasta, the lovely lady in white who watches over us all. It's a spiritual place I understand, a place where people flock to be closer to this powerful mountain.
The crime rate is low and for that I'm very thankful. We don't worry over the same kinds of things that parents in the big city do. Our children are doing very well here; my husband's business is really taking off.
Every winter though, the children and I battle with our inner demons, the voices inside our heads filled with a wanderlust. A need to move south where it’s warm. I am grateful for all we have, truly I am, but it's cold! I'm just not a snow kinda girl. We don't drive a suburban and we don't have ski racks on top of the car. I don't ski for a reason. I just have no desire to be that cold. That would involve the chance of falling down in the afore-mentioned white stuff!
Seriously, I'd trade evenly, a cup of sand flies per cup of snow... I'd be willing to show up with trash bags in hand and comb the streets and by-ways for all the trash I could find. I'd be happy to do whatever public service...whatever penance it would take to find myself living in a warmer climate. But not just any place.
Ah, Belize...
Desperate times call for desperate measures. My way of coping with all of this snow, is to research lovely places I wish I was rich enough to travel to. Thank goodness for the internet.
A couple of years ago, my daughters and I were huddled together in front of the wood stove, complaining about being cold, dreaming aloud. I told them about this wonderful place that I had been researching.
Just the sound of the name does funny things to my insides... Belize. It calls to me with its exotic sounding name... Tropical climate, crystal clear blue waters, the color of my youngest son's eyes. Almost perfect fishing conditions. Boy, that would do nicely for the older son... the one who talks fishing morning, noon and night. I can just see him now, lean and tan, happy and thriving with a fishing pole in hand. This boy's life long dream has been to own a fishing boat.
White sand beaches, quiet places, still left where one can sit quietly and soak up the warm sunlight. Yes, this sounds about as close to paradise as can be for a family with aching joints from the cold and vivid imaginations.
I watch my children grow and encourage their dreams. Belize fits nicely into their imaginations as it does mine.
Sipping coffee one morning about a month ago, I stumbled upon a website called discoveringbelize... Inside were beautiful pictures, some of which brought such a yearning to my heart that I actually found tears in my eyes. Raising teenagers is hard work, hard on the pocket book too. My husband and I celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary this year and I really wish I could take him far away to a place where the sun shines down on you, there's actually time for things like holding hands... a small escape from our ordinary snow bound, hard working, small business owner-existence where the kids never seem to stop and the phone rings all the time. My husband works so hard. How wonderful it would be to just take him away for a few days....
But where would the money to go come from? It's all we can do to feed everyone, pay the monthly bills and keep everyone in shoes and clothing.
This fast paced, American Dream isn't for everyone, just so you know. Some of us dream of a slower pace. Some of us dream of meeting new people and hearing their stories, learning about different cultures, finding the commonality of peoples from all over the globe. Some of us dream awfully big, sitting in our kitchens next to the fire, wishing and dreaming of warmer climates where the sun shines brightly and the beat of the ocean waves matches the pulse of those who live by her tides.
Alex Gamero, a kindly, unsuspecting Belizean man, answered an email one day, thinking that he was putting together an itinerary for a couple celebrating a wedding anniversary... what he found instead was a pen pal. We cannot afford to visit Belize at this time, but through Alex's photography and descriptive words about a country that he clearly loves, he has allowed me to visit at least in my mind. Over the course of the last month, Alex and I have exchanged at least a dozen emails. How or why he finds the time to answer my many questions like this, I'll never fully understand, but I am thankful. It's good to dream.
It's funny, Alex asked me to tell him what I'd like to do if I were to come to Belize for a visit and my mind just whirls with the possibilities. I think with as long as my family has been yearning for this and researching, and falling in love with a land we've yet to lay eyes on, perhaps the kids are right, perhaps one day we can just pack up and move there. Dreams do come true sometimes.
I think first, we'd have to spend some time on a quiet beach somewhere, just soaking in the healing warmth of the sun. Perhaps Alex and his lovely wife would like to sit with us, share a beer and discuss places to see things to explore!
I'm so excited about visiting the jungle, just hearing the sounds, the feel of that much flora surrounding you. I am a plant nut. I love them all. To me being surrounded in green like that would be a slice of heaven! My youngest daughter talked in her childhood years of a dream of visiting the jungle. Oh, how I ache to see her dream come to fruition.
The Mayan ruins. The idea of standing in a place rich with history like that sends my mind to reeling again. I wonder how many places on earth are left like this? Remote, overgrown, untouched by human hands for possibly hundreds of years? I can just imagine my children’s eyes as they take it all in.
Dangriga is another that tops my list of places I want to experience. From what I understand, the town is home to some of Belize's finest painters, musicians and drum makers. The history of the Garifuna people fascinates me. "Sweet water is close at hand" is the loose translation of the Garifuna word, Dangriga. Sounds lovely to me.
One day beautiful Belize...
Until then, I'm thankful for my Belizean pen-pal friend Alex, who encourages my family's dreaming and ends all of his emails in,
Cheers, Alex.
Every time we have a spare penny, nickel or dime, it goes into the Belize ginger jar.
One day beautiful Belize, one day!
