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Lair Davis
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| June 25, 2004 |
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My
Adventure is Beginning
This space is beginning as the journal of my adventure into retirement. My last day at work was Wednesday. In one week I will fly out of San Francisco and wing it to Costa Rica. For the next month I will be ensconced in language school, shaping up my Spanish. I’ll also begin the search for a permanent place to live — whatever “permanent” means, and I am not sure what that is at this point. I know almost no one in Costa Rica, although I have visited there more than a dozen times in the past 15 years. After spending my working life in the United States as a theater director, a musician, a gay newspaper editor (professional homosexual? career queer?), a social worker and a nonprofit fundraiser, I could never afford to retire in the country of my birth — not in my wildest dreams! Luckily for me, I do not even WANT to retire in the US. I read somewhere that one should not end a life without having lived it in at least two different cultures. That’s what I want to do. Last summer, I had an angioplasty — kinda put things in perspective! I will not spend the remainder of my life working at a “job” job. There is more to life. I know that. I am embarking on the adventure of finding out just what there is beyond “job.” This part of my life belongs to ME! And I CAN afford to retire in Costa Rica. It is a welcoming, civilized, principled and beautiful country — and it is surprisingly gay-tolerant (although not exactly gay-friendly — it IS a Catholic country, after all). I wonder why only a few gay people have retired there. Perhaps more than a few have — they, like me, just keep a more sedate profile while there. There ARE more than 60,000 United Statesians living in Costa Rica. They are a welcoming bunch of nice folks, who seem quite willing to advise and assist newcomers. There are plenty of gay bars, enough gay hotels, a few gay organizations and even a nude gay beach! Let the adventure begin! |
