Costa
Rican Diary
The
Great Escape to Pura Vida
Altos de Antigua
La Palma, Puriscal
San Jose, Costa Rica
December 29th was my last Sunday to celebrate Holy
Eucharist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Jacksonville, Florida. I had
fully expected to serve the parish until my 70th birthday but once I
passed that magical day of full retirement age it was harder and harder to
answer the bell every Sunday morning, not to mention perform all the routine
chores and decisions that are required of a solo clergy person in parish life.
I was surrounded by smart and able-bodied staff and volunteers who love the
church and supported their pastor in many wonderful ways. But in the end—in
that final hour— no person ever has wished that they could have spent a little more
time in the office.
My wife and I both ended our careers on the last day of the
year 2019 and moved our household to Costa Rica. What follows is a diary or
blog about our experiences during this journey. I am writing in near real-time
so that my memories are fresh and clear with the hope that you who read and
follow this adventure will feel empowered to make the similar decision—before
it’s too late!
Much of what I write will be about the experiences we went
through on this adventure. We hope to be able to offer insight which might be helpful
to someone considering a similar journey. We want to be encouraging of the hopes
and dreams you might have but not sugar-coat the ups and downs, the ‘goods’ and
‘bads’, the smart decisions we made and the knuckle-headed mistakes as well.
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