Letter 48 - Ruin Is The Road To ?????
Hello Bregdan Woman!
Has it really been just four years since the Covid pandemic began to change life as we knew it?
As you knew it?
As I knew it?
The impact was worldwide – killing millions and altering the world.
Here in the US, more than a million died. Multiple millions fell ill with Covid.
Today in 2024? Covid still takes the lives of a thousand people every week. Covid remains among the leading causes of death in the U.S.
20,000,000 + (yes, 20 MILLION +) people suffer from some degree of long-covid. The medical community is struggling to understand it, and still doesn’t have the answers to cure it.
Covid disrupted economies and education systems. It took away livelihoods, jobs, and businesses.
Many will struggle physically, but even more will struggle financially to overcome what this has done to our country – and our world.
I get it.
2020 was a challenging year for Suess and me. The financial toll of Covid, along with other life challenges, hit hard. We had to sell our dream home in Washington State and move. I struggled health wise as Covid came close to taking my life. Definitely not a year we care to repeat.
However, we wouldn’t trade 2020 for anything.
Why?
When we were in the midst of the darkest times, we watched the movie Eat, Pray, Love. Julia Roberts, the actress who plays Elizabeth Gilbert, spoke a line we will never forget.
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
When she spoke those words, I hit Pause on the remote and stared at the TV screen. Suess and I stared at each other. Then we stared back at the screen.
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
The words slowly sifted into our souls. They penetrated our minds, punctured our hearts, and settled deep into the core of our beings.
I knew I was hearing the words that would carry us through all that was ahead – through the Pandemic, and through whatever dark times we couldn’t yet see.
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
Losing Bregdan (our Washington dream home) broke my heart. Driving away from what I believed to be my Forever Home scored a deep scar into my being – just as loss of any kind was scoring deep scars into people all over the globe.
Yet, even as I felt the pain, the words I had heard gave me hope. They gave me the ability to begin to look beyond the pain and anticipate the transformation.
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
As our world was crumbling around us, I kept repeating those words to myself – making sure they would etch themselves into the very fiber of my being.
2021.
We were well on the road to transformation. The loss of our Washington home caused us to make a move we could never have dreamed of months earlier. We moved to…
MEXICO!
It was quite a stretch for me to leave the lush green beauty of the Pacific Northwest that claimed my heart 23 years earlier. When Suess first mentioned Mexico, I thought she must be having a brain blip.
Mexico?
I don’t like heat. Actually, it’s more than that. I don’t like it because if I get too hot, I pass out. No kidding. While I love beaches, oceans, and swimming, I knew there would be many months of the year it would simply be too hot for me to live there.
Then she told me about the highlands of Central Mexico. Never hot. Never cold. Daily temps range from the 40’s and 50’s, to the 70’s and 80’s – year-round!
Research revealed the extremely lower cost of living. When you’re on the verge of ruin, that is quite an appealing factor.
We read. We researched. The more we discovered, the more appealing it was.
We made our decision.
We sold our home at the end of August. On September 2, 2020 we crossed the border into Mexico – Temporary Resident Visas in hand.
I’ll admit the first 8 weeks were tough. We left family and friends behind. No more lush green. A handful of Spanish words that did little more than allow me to greet people, ask their name, and find out where the bathroom was. Our first 2 rental houses were disaster. I contracted Covid.
Transformation?
How about disaster?
Yet, Mexico was home.
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
I kept repeating the words to myself, fighting to trust things would get better.
They did.
We found a little stone cottage in the mountains with a glorious view of the cliffs across the valley below. It’s a fifth of the size of our old home. It is also cozy and homey – with 24-inch-thick adobe walls.
It is ENOUGH.
We made friends with our neighbors – both Mexican and American.
I’ve learned to embrace and LOVE the dry, arid, SUNNY world that surrounds me. Sure, there are days I miss the Pacific Northwest so much that I cry, but then I choose to practice gratitude.
I’ve learned to love cactus and succulents, especially as they explode into bloom because they are now getting water.
I love the soft air. Really. The air has a soft, embracing feel that draws me in and fills me with comfort.
I love paying $30 for an electric bill. $10 a month for water. $15 a month for a cell phone. $2.00 for a dozen free-range eggs – brought to us the same day they are laid.
I love it when our 80+ year old neighbor, Leonora, brings us fresh-made tortillas created from the heirloom corn she and her 70+ year old brother, Alfredo, grow. She hand-grinds the corn and then cooks the tortillas over a wood-fired cook stove outside her tiny, dirt floor home.
I love the fact that Leonora stays and regales us with stories for 30-40 minutes, even though she
knows we don’t understand a word she’s saying. Well, maybe one word of every fifty! She’s lonely and wants female company. We love listening to her, trying to pick out words, as her eyes dance with life and she smiles her beautiful smile.
I love clear skies that allow me to gaze at the stars almost every night.
I love the bright moon that illuminates Roxie clinging to the pepper tree outside our bedroom – our resident ringtail that is endangered in Mexico.
We love waking in the morning and going out with hot chocolate to enjoy the orchestra and beauty of the dozens of birds that greet us every day.
I LOVE the lack of stress. I love the slower pace.
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
Yes, 2020 was hard. I still miss the Pacific Northwest and Bregdan Washington sometimes, but every day reveals more and more of the joy of Bregdan Mexico.
Bregdan?
In Mexico?
Of course.
I’ve discovered Bregdan isn’t a place. It’s a state of mind. It’s the belief that every moment of my life will impact history.
Bregdan is simply where I am.
I know that I’m not alone in facing ruin from the impact of 2020.
Four years later, the challenges are still real.
The rate of poverty has soared in the US.
Millions lost their jobs.
Millions lost their homes.
Millions lost their loved ones to a cruel disease.
Millions will suffer from the health consequences of Covid for a long time.
Okay. None of us can change that reality.
What I can do is challenge you to consider that…
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
Ruin is NOT fun. Ruin is NOT easy. Ruin is painful. I wouldn’t dare try to tell you anything else. I know it’s not easy!
I’ve walked it, too.
But I now passionately believe that…
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
I encourage you to consider what good can come from your current challenges.
I encourage you to be willing to change anything that needs to change in order to move your life into transformation.
I encourage you to embrace the changes as they come – opening your heart to the joy that exists within a transformation that is embraced – not resented and resisted.
I encourage you to embrace the beauty and joy (all the little things) that surround you now.
My life is still transforming. Still changing. So be it. Just like you, I couldn’t stop the ruin.
I can, however, set my eyes on the constant transformation of life.
I can choose acceptance.
I can choose joy.
I hope you will join me!
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What will you do to be a Bregdan Woman?
What will you do today to impact history??
We’re on this journey with you… (and have 2 FREE Gifts for you below…)
Ginny & Suess
CLICK IMAGE BELOW TO CLAIM YOUR FREE GIFTS!
