Sitting at Charly’s Rock tonight munching on my octopus tacos as I watched the Sea of Cortez, I was flooded with a feeling I couldn’t understand at first. It was overwhelming and I almost choked on it as tears welled up in my eyes and threatened to spill over. I took a deep breath to calm myself and then I knew what it was I was feeling.

If my life was a movie, there would have been a montage running backwards through the last seventeen years of my life ending with me sitting on a bench by Melrose Abbey in Scotland. The feeling was utter oneness with the universe and my place in it. Peace. A certainty that I am exactly where I am supposed to be and that my life is on track.

I’ve always felt that I was being prepared for something. Part of that something was my winter here in Mexico. So many little life lessons all added up to no significant culture shock and an ability to slip so easily into my Mexican routine. I’ve been wanting to come to Mexico for so long, but I was patient and went when going there felt like an inevitability, the most logical and sensible next step in my life.

There is no doubt in my mind that I will be back at Isla this time in seven months. And there is little doubt that I’ll have Mexican residency within the next few years and citizenship within the next decade.

The thing about travel, truly living in a new place instead of just vacationing there, is that it expands your horizons and refashions your worldview. I remember taking a train to Mountainview, California, eight years ago, my first time being in a warm climate, and having a life altering revelation. I didn’t have to keep trying to enjoy winter and cold weather. I could choose something else because there were other options!

Just because I was born in Canada does not mean that I am forced to accept its climate or culture of apathy or exorbitant cost of living. The whole world is open to me and I can choose to live in a climate where I am healthier. Rather than bemoan the status quo and lack of desire to grow as a people, I can choose to live somewhere that is growing into ‘first world’ status and choosing its own path that honours the past while shaping an exciting future. Or I can choose to live outside the first world because I know I can be very happy with very little as long as I have good internet… and just about anywhere in the world has better internet than Canada anyway. And then, there’s my income, barely enough to eke out an existence in Canada, yet sufficient to live well in less developed countries. I might not love what I do, but I love the freedom of schedule it affords me and when I can live somewhere like Mexico where that money buys me a lot of freedom, it really makes me feel stupid to have ever considered giving it all up for a ‘real’ job in Canada.

The life education I gained in the last several years was costly and now I need to focus on paying it all back. I’m grateful that Mexico is relatively close by and will provide me with the stimulation I need I until I can afford to take off and explore the far reaches of our world. I’m also thankful that I found a sliver of Canada that is calling me back, a piece of property that I love and where I don’t feel that my values are compromised. Haven is a blessing and I can honestly say that sad as I am to leave Mexico tomorrow, I am happy to be heading home.

Just think of what lies ahead for me; nearly six months of good weather under the bright blue skies of my beloved Prairies while knowing that my life now is a nearly eternal summer and that I do not have to dread the coming winter. I’ll have a brief spell of cold before I can leave and, soon enough, my feet will be getting reaccustomed to the grit of sand between the toes and forgetting what closed shoes feel like.

For the last seventeen years, this song has been a lament. Fond memories of my Scottish travels were marred by the failures that followed my great adventure across the pond.

Now, I can say, Caledonia, you were the best thing I ever had and I can finally remember you with only joy in my heart and not an ounce of regret.

¡Gracias, Mexico, y hasta noviembre!