Going to America

After our lovely almost 3 year sojourn in Thailand we are returning to the US to live. Partly it's the civil unrest, which is becoming more frequent and more violent with each repetition. It looks like a gradual slide into civil war, which will be accelerated when the much beloved and revered King passes away. The succession will be disputed, and historically all Thai civil wars are over the Royal succession. Mostly, though, it's that Jim's mother needs us, and we want to be there for her.

The day after we made the decision we told our neighbors across the street. They are wonderful people, and have been the best possible friends that they could possibly be, in spite of the language barrier. It seems that one of their sons wants our house, so they will be buying it from us. We are selling it for a price on the low side of fair, and including everything we don't ship back to the US, so everybody is happy. They also want our car, the other main item we need to sell. We will get a realistic price from the dealer today.

Curiously, this is, in a very real way, the story of my life. Serendipity rules. It's not that bad things never happen, it's that freakishly coincidental good things happen too often for it to be mere chance. For example, we sold our house in the US in 1 week, when other houses in our area had languished on the market for as long as 2 years. We sold it just before the home prices in our area dropped like shares of automaker stock. Jimmy decided to retire, and we proceeded to plan accordingly for the next two years. Just before he applied for his pension, they announced cash buyouts as a retirement incentive. You get the drift.