I have readers!

I have readers!

As I've been writing my blog entries so far, I've been imagining people coming across them ( I didn't know how exactly), and hopefully enjoying them, but I haven't been surprised by the '0 Comments' note at the end of each entry. I do have to admit that I didn't know how long I'd keep writing to '0 Comments', but the announcement didn't bother me, at least for the first while.

But a couple of days ago there was a comment, from Ann, who I certainly don't know, but who came across my blog and thoughtfully wrote to me. Then, the next day a comment from Brenda
and I felt rather famous. Now I know, in the world of blogging, my fledgling effort is barely on the radar, but on some radar it apparently is, and you can't believe how excited that has made me.

What makes Ann and Brenda's comments even more fun is that both women have preceded me on my route to Mexico, and both women have their own blogs, so not only can I learn from their successes (and possible failures) as they made the move to Mexico, but I can also steal shamelessly from their posts. (Just joking, Ann and Brenda).

Which brings me to the first point of this post. I've discovered an amazing amount of material online for anyone considering a move to Mexico, or even Lake Chapala, where we're heading, written by ordinary people who have made the same move and have enjoyed it, or hated it, have adapted to it or who have found it not to their hopes. I regularly lurk at a couple of webboards that have been set up for and by expats living in Mexico, and I've a whole binder of information about restaurants, service people, community resources, legalities and such that it would have taken Rob and I many frustrating months, even years, to accumulate. People are more than willing to offer suggestions, recommendations, examples from their own experience, and lots of people have gone out of their way to do so for us.

Most of this material is very helpful, and most of the people positive in their answers to questions I or others have raised. There is a 'curmudgeon' contingent, I admit, that one has to get used to when reading the posts on these webboards, as I suppose there will be in reality when we move down there. The area we are moving to is made up largely of retirees, and, as we all know, aging often makes us more exaggerated versions of the people we were when younger. Well, it does so for other people. You and I are exceptions, of course.

My second point of this post, is that doing this research has introduced me not only to important material, but to very interesting people. Reading a person's blog can become quite addictive, and I'm looking forward to going through Ann and Brenda's blogs to get to know them as people. The first 'Mexican' blog I discovered was Elliott's, and it only took me one entry to decide that I'd like her very much if she's anything like the narrator of her adventures in Mexico. It appears that Ann and Brenda read Elliott's blog, too, so I feel part of quite a special group.

My third point of this post has less to do with Mexico than it does about writing about Mexico (or whatever else comes to mind, I guess.) I was an English teacher for many years (yes, I know, I know), but, although I wrote speeches for graduations, and edited countless essays, compositions and journals, I haven't written anything much, just for my own pleasure, for many, many years. I'll never make a writer, but I find that I do enjoy the process of thinking through what I want to say, finding the 'mot juste' (or more often, something that'll work), and hitting the "publish post" button. It's actually quite a thrill to see it in 'print' on my monitor, once the blog fairies have taken the plain text and placed it into the template. Thanks to Elliott for encouraging me to give it a try.

I like it.