USA

Last Friday was my last day of work, and after several goodbyes I walked out of the office.

Welcome to unemployment, or as I like to call it Summer Vacation. Looking back, I haven’t had a summer with out working since I graduated from Wabash College in 1999. I spent that summer back packing around Europe for a little shy of 4 months. I hope I learn as much from the summer of 2007 as I did from the summer of 1999.

I am not sure if it has completely sunk in at this point. It is 4:30AM on Wednesday May 16th, and I will leave for the airport in about an hour to fly to San Jose, Costa Rica for three weeks. As suspected, I didn’t sleep much last night. However, my unrest has allowed me to catch up on some correspondence. Honestly, I spent the last half hour looking for things I still cannot find. But now as I look out my window, I see the first rays or the morning sun pushing across the sky. I feel alive and fortunate to be where I am in this time.

Not working is a funny experience. Possibly the most interesting realization occurred to me yesterday while I was at CVS for the 8th time and I was getting ready to go to REI for the 12 time in the last 2 weeks. It was the middle off the afternoon, around 2PM, and I expected be virtually alone while running errands; however, instead the parking lot, Whole Foods and especially CVS were packed: Senior Citizens. It never occurred to me that while I was at work all day the stores, banks and streets were packed with retirees. Makes sense, just never have been there to see it up until now.

Today’s travel includes a stop over for some sweet tea in Charlotte, NC, on my way to San Jose, Costa Rica. I will take a cab across the city to the Musoc Bus Station, and a three-hour bus through the mountains to the South Pacific region and the town of San Isidro. I hope to meet up with my buddy Paul, enjoy some ceviche and Gallo Pinto, and start easing into the Pura Vida life style.

Pura Vida my friends.