On the morning of our August 21st departure, I took the opportunity to spend time on the terrace enjoying coffee and the view. It was also an opportunity to reflect on the experience we had in PV and the possibility of a future here. Of course, I was also eager to return home to Atlanta and our cat Boots! We always miss him after several days away although he has a sitter that visits daily, he’s 15 and has gotten very clingy in his senior years! We both were in agreement that we were very impressed with the house in Fluvial and started imagining what it might be like to actually live there. We also started to contemplate the enormous undertaking of selling our Atlanta home, applying for temporary residency in Mexico, and an international move. We also had to consider what this would mean for family back at home. My Mother in-law, who’s 91, regularly visits us in Atlanta (quarterly). She enjoys visiting us and looks forward to it. She wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the prospect of us moving to PV. The first question that arose was “Is it safe?” Ironically, that’s what most Americans ask when you indicate you’re considering a move to Mexico largely because of U.S. media coverage of cartel incidents. Geographically, most Americans don’t have a clue about Mexico, other then the usual tourist destinations of Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, and Acapulco. I’ve found the most effective way to shut down questions about safety in Mexico is to ask “When was the last time you heard about a mass shooting in Mexico?” or to state “Mexicans can send their children to school without fear of them not returning home” Universally, the reaction is “Yeah, I never thought about that!” Of course you didn’t! We seem to have become a culture to unwilling to do our rearch or have our own experiences, it very disturbing to some degree. It took some time, but we eventually won my Mother In-Law over. My Mom simply wanted to make sure that there would be a room for her when she visited! LOL.