Assimilation Complete?

Our old house. It still looks exactly the same.

Before leaving the country, Michael & I lived in Arizona for 16 years. We spent a couple of them renting in Scottsdale, discovered Fountain Hills during one of its art festivals, and immediately bought a house up there. We worked two great jobs (Michael at a beautiful resort 5 minutes from our house), me at an environmental firm in an office run mostly of women (at the time), and where I could work from home when it suited me. But Michael & I were absolutely bored out of our ever lovin' minds. We were either working or spending time & money on the house. We met no one and did nothing fun. That led us to selling it all and sailing away from everything. Was there a simpler answer? Probably. But that's not how we do things.

Our Caribbean Sea view. Sigh.

Life in the Caribbean was not stress-free, but it wasn't a bad place to be stressed. We met a lot of boaters, a lot of expats, and a lot of islanders. We worked, and we played. And then the work dried up on our Caribbean island, and we found ourselves back in the U.S. We went through lots of stages - anger, grief, denial - and eventually reverse culture shock set in. It was not an easy transition. If 7 years could make us feel so foreign in our own land, can you imagine how actual foreigners feel arriving here for the first time?

Ok, so that's not so bad either.

What now? All we knew was that we wanted it to be different this time. We now knew how important friends were, how important fun was, and how important balance is. When we decided to head back to Fountain Hills, I was apprehensive. Would we end up back in the grind? Imagine my consternation (amongst the relief) when, within a week, Michael was back at the same resort, and I was contracting out with my former employer as well. Uh oh. We even bought another Mini Cooper. Can you say déjà vu? But then it occurred to me - these were the things we had liked. We were recreating the good parts. The trick was to not also replicate the bad.

First up. Work. Now, it's not like I haven't been working. I can assure you, cruising throughout the Caribbean on a sailboat is work - that was 3 years. I then wrote a book, ran a blog, and did marketing/accounting for a beach bar for 4 years. But this was my office,

this was my view,

and this was my boss.

Mr. X and some freshly caught mahi.

It's just not the same.

While licking our wounds in Key West, I edited two books and tried to make myself like Florida but couldn't do it. We made the most of it, but 12 months was about 11 months too many. And now we're back in Arizona. I've been doing some editing remotely for a Malibu magazine and for my former client, but I actually had to get dressed and go into the office last week. I can not tell you how weird that felt. Putting on "real" clothes, driving in traffic again, heading into an air conditioned office, getting water from the water cooler, talking to old(er) co-workers for the first time in 7 years. It was weird, I tell you! It was also kind of strange how naturally it came back. I don't really want it to though, so am glad I can work from home most of the time. Not only because I have more scroungy clothes than professional, but because that leaves me time for fun and friends.

We've been hiking a lot, and that is fun and cathartic - but we're not meeting people. So I'm volunteering. First up, the people at Fearless Kitties Rescue. Once signed up but before I'd cleaned one litterbox or had pet one kitty, I was invited to lunch. That was nice. The kitties are great too, most are very affectionate.




No this is not my fridge, but it could be... That's Paws inside.

It can't be all work and no play. That would be Kim in the doghouse and Paula looking on (laughing on the left) - the cofounders of the place.

Look who's getting sucked in?

Antelope squirrels in the wild.

Photo: National Geographic

I went through training at Liberty Wildlife last week too, terrified the whole time I'd accidentally squish one of these tiny creatures. For birds, you take warmed, wet cat food and tweezers and shove it down the gullets for some, or you take liquified cat food and put a tube down the throats of others (I've been too scared to try this). Eventually diets, some graduate to crickets, worms, seed, fruit, etc. The hummingbirds teach each other how to feed from syringes put throughout their cage (a few are about to be released). The whole process is rather complicated, but intriguing. On my 2nd day, someone brought in 6 baby antelope squirrels. A dog had dug them up and killed the mother. While we were spraying the little guys for fleas and putting them in a clean container, one curled up in a little ball, just like a possum. It was so cute. I really hope they make it.

I'm slowly getting to know the people behind the animal care and hopefully will be able to to make some human friends too. I'd like to think they're less fragile and temperamental - well, I'd like to....