This past week marks 16 years since I expatriated from the U.S. to the Philippines (almost 17 years for my dear wife Lydia who as native of this country preceded me here to pave the way and set things up for us) Since then, naturally much has changed in our lives. For one thing, we are now fully-fledged seniors. But despite that and a couple of serious health issues we are still alert and physically active.
What hasn't changed in all that time is our address. From the very beginning of our time here, Lydia and I have lived primarily at the same residence in Eastwood City, a community in Quezon City which in turn is part of the sprawling megalopolis of Metro-Manila. I say "primarily" because of one of the changes that we have made is renovation of the house that we have in Quezon Province. Before the COVID pandemic struck, we had intended to live there while keeping our condo in Eastwood as a crash pad for our forays into Metro-Manila. But we have been unable to even leave town for several months due to lockdowns within Metro-Manila and a government edict against such travel. And we have no idea when this ban will be lifted.
Yet this hurdle is not as great as some of the other obstacles and challenges that we have experienced. But not for a minute do we regret our decision to move to the Philippines. Although we have faced and overcome many hurdles along the way,, overall we are comfortable. As a matter of fact I doubt that our standard of living here would have been possible in the U.S. So we have no plans to ever repatriate.
It's highly questionable that we will be around for another 16 years. But however much time Lydia and I have left, I just hope that we can continue to deal with whatever life throws at us as reasonably well as we have managed up to this point. I think that's about as much as anyone could ask.
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