Status Report (Where I also blather on about our usual neuroses)

Punta Gorda is slowly getting back to normal. Most of the fallen, dead trees have been removed. Road signs and highway lighting are nearly all back in place. Many of the demolished buildings have been cleared away. Large piles of debris on roadsides are almost all gone. Most stores and restaurants are back in business. New construction is happening.

There are still numerous homes with blue FEMA tarps, some on their second or third set after five and a half months waiting for overscheduled roofing contractors. The railroad crossing signals haven't been fixed. There are buildings that look like the day after the storm, thankfully, not as many. Depending on the tides, sunken vessels can be seen poking out of the waterways.

We are especially anticipating the reopening, promised for February, of our one and only bookstore, Books-A-Million. It will be nice to finally sit down, books in hand, and compare the various versions of The Iliad and The Odyssey for next year's study without having to drive 35 miles each way.

On the home front, we have gone full circle again:

We had begun looking, again, in different towns, at houses for sale, vacant lots, debating which style house to build, and considering what we already have, all with an eye toward establishing roots for the children. Because they have finally made a few good friends locally and are involved in some outside activities and S has an appointment scheduled for an orthodontic consultation next month, braces being a necessity involving a commitment of several years, we were reluctant to stir things up.

So after all that, we came back to our plan to build the cheapest possible structure on our four-acre lot, a barn, with airconditioning to facilitate climate controlled storage of our furnishings and tuck in a sleeping loft with bathroom facilities. But then we're going to hit the road. We'll keep the island. We'll be mortgage free. All vehicles will be paid off. G is expecting to complete his contracts around the same time as L finishes preschool this year. I just need to figure out how to do orthodontics on the road.

We figure if we wait much longer, S (12.5) and G (10) will be too old to travel around with their parents, being tied up with employment or educational responsibilities of their own. L (4.5) is about old enough now to really remember and appreciate the experience. And besides, our Australian residency expires in June '06. Use it or lose it. Our window of opportunity is closing.

G has a strong desire to visit India and the Amazon jungle. I want to spend some time in Europe. G and I could do this more easily, and less expensively, on our own, but we want our children to have this experience with us. His family's summer-long travels to places like El Salvador, where he and his sister lived with a local family for two months, made a lasting impression. Our first extended stop will likely be New Zealand in an effort to establish residency there under the reciprocal agreement with Australia. NZ is a little cheaper than OZ and their residency requirements more lenient. It's much easier on us all, especially my mother-in-law, to say we're going to travel for an undetermined amount of time than it is to say we're moving to another country and we're never coming back.

It also didn't hurt that we happened to watch PBS's Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America? this weekend, which set off a discussion about the dire straights our country will be in as a result of the huge trade deficits, drain of U.S. resources overseas, and lack of industry here. Who can afford to compete with foreign labor? Thanks to free trade agreements and greedy corporations, we can't. Some would say it's just the way business works, compete or die, and while that's true, it certainly doesn't bode well for our economy. It will take a long time to recover and make up the difference when we finally become productive again. If we become productive again. Anyone noticed how much steel costs lately? We are dependent on foreign steel. Last year, during the building of the house we are presently renting, a steel frame construction, steel prices rose 150%. China and Japan buy our scrap metal, we buy their steel. We export scrap paper, we import cardboard boxes full of merchandise. We export cotton, we import cheap clothing. We are being reduced to the status of a third world country mined for its raw materials. But most people choose to ignore these facts as long as it doesn't interfere with their shopping. Wal-mart is good for Wal-mart. I don't care how many low paying service jobs they provide. G and I are not concerned for our own welfare, it's the kids who will have harder times. He wants to be sure they're set up in an environment where they can have some measure of financial security, not always struggling to pay the bills just to maintain some dismal status quo. Seeing that show really got him going.

It could be beneficial living closer to Asia. I should probably start teaching the girls Chinese. Maybe they could end up trophy brides for Asian billionaire industrialists.

The benefits of paring down our curriculum are obvious. Saxon Math, Classical Writing with Harvey's Grammar, and Henle Latin are all we really need. The girls can keep a Commonplace Book. Toss in a few family favorites and classics to get us started and off we go.

So G will keep his New Year resolution that by Christmas '05 we will have a permanent place of our own again, a home base. We just won't be living there for some time. Roots for the children? We are their roots.