HOUSE SHARING

Susan Lewis, Bill Pecha, Phyllis Ray and Amanda Painter

residents and owners of Casa Corazon

Several people have asked me when I'm going to publish another chapter to my blog. It's been interesting to think about because the subject of my blog has changed. Until March 19, 2020, the day Robert died, it was mostly about coming to Chapala Mexico to get needed and affordable care for him. During the 3 years he lived at La Casa Nostra and I lived at La Galleria at Quinta Quetzlequatl I created a life and became a part of a community here. Two communities really. One is the shared household of Casa Corazon, the other is the greater community/neighborhood/Ajijic Sketchers/friendships. 

The greater community has been building over the past 4 years. The Casa Corazon community began July 2019 when we signed the final papers to buy our house. It seems this blog is morphing into a discussion of shared housing as a plan for elder hood. I described in the last chapter how we found the house. Once the house was found we had to have the pool built as well as a roof for one of the bedroom terraces and some inside construction. Since we weren't all here during that construction phase we communicated by FaceTime and phone. Once the pool and other things were completed we got Fernando to work on completely refurbishing the extra apartment in the house that we call the casita. I was here alone for most of that work and it was really fun. I continued to live at La Galleria during this phase, and since the houses are only 2 blocks apart it was easy to walk over and oversee things and make decisions. As you can imagine there were hundreds of phone calls, photos, facetious as we chose colors and furnishings and details. The casita is for visiting family, friends, guests and eventually perhaps an infirmary or housing for caregivers. Here are a few photos of the casita as it is today.

As you can see it's good sized and fully equipped. Our guests have all reported loving staying here. We love having guests. 

Actually I should probably talk about the cast of characters before getting more involved in the house. Bill Pecha and Susan Lewis are a couple. They have a home in Manzanillo and need a second home for the summer when it gets too hot at the coast. Susan and I have been involved in Real Estate in Manzanillo together for many years, but that is an entirely different story. They also travel all over the world a lot and love being closer to Guadalajara airport. And they love being able to walk to everything they might need from Casa Corazon. Their home in Manzanillo is beautiful and totally car dependent. Casa Corazon is a better home for later years. Everything is convenient. 

Amanda Painter is recently retired from 35 years of working and living in Southeast Alaska. First a fishing boat captain and finally a vice president of a major tour boat company in Alaska. She and I met through our husbands. They both suffered dementia and both ended their days at La Casa Nostra. Good friends of Amandas knew she was desperate for good care for her husband and put us in touch with each other. She brought him here and a lifetime friendship was born. She sold her home in Ketchikan, and has sold or removed all of her vehicles and household goods from Alaska. Casa Corazon is her only home ownership at this time. 

And then there is me who is so happy to have housemates. It is really fun to share the chores and joys of living and house holding. I still own my condo in Langley on Whidbey Island which makes it very convenient for me to go back and forth from Mexico to the U.S.A. It does not cost much to maintain. While Robert was alive I was a full time resident here and lived here because I needed to for him. Now that he is gone I have choices. It appears I am becoming a Snowbird (or in my case Rainbird?). I am sharing my condo in Langley with Amanda, so she has a USA residence as well as Mexico. I am delighted to be sharing that home too. We transformed a former TV room/den into a lovely bedroom for her. So home sharing is my chosen way of life for this next and probably final chapter of my life. But who knows? 

It is my expectation that this shared life will be very elastic and changeable. I like that. So far that has proven true. Because of surgeries Bill needed, and had in the US in order to use his Medicare,  they were not here as much as we had planned. Amanda and I surprised ourselves by going North in Feb/March to get Moderna vaccine. We returned North in mid June til mid September in order to attend important events. And we are going back for a few weeks to get our boosters. The plan is more or less that we are up North in the summers while Bill and Susan are here, and Amanda and I will be here in the winters when Bill and Susan are in Manzanillo. During shoulder seasons we are all here together. It more or less works that way. Manzanillo is a 3 1/2 hour drive from here so they come and go. 

The 5th member of our household is Boomer the housecat.

In the beginning of this adventure, when I was living here alone, a friend of mine was moving back to the US and needed a home for her supposedly feral cat, Boomerang (who just kept coming back to her). He adapted almost immediately to being a house cat. He greets visitors and likes being around people. He follows us around the house and sits on whatever lap is available. He's a good cat. He was wonderful company for me during those months.

Next time (hopefully sooner rather than so much later) I'll write about the mechanics of sharing a house with people who have different ways of doing things. As would be expected.