Your year 2022

@Mickael, Thanx for asking. I am in my early 60’s and the last 23 years I spent with my Brazilian wife at my home in MD. Now the rest of my time I am spending  with my wife in  her home in a small 2,000+ population village in northern Brazil about a half hour + from Jericoacoara.

This is the happiest time of our lives.  I love watching the bulls come down the street in front of our house and our two dogs herd them on the right path everyday. Every night when the temperature is more moderate , me and my dog hang out at the community park my wife built across the street. It is one thing to jokingly ask people “Why did the chicken cross the road?” It is another to watch them do it. Spoiler Alert: There is a hip Chicken Coop on the other side all the cool chicks hang out at.

Roddie in Retirement🕵🏽l

12/22/22 I'll remember 2022 as The Year That Hope Returned, in Brazil and in the world.

Covid deaths, at least among the majority who sought and accepted vaccination, declined precipitously and have largely stayed down.  Travel became less onerous and less restricted.  The battered tourist industry on which Manaus depends so heavily began to revive, symbolized by the return of the first cruise ship to dock here in at least two years on December 1. 

We suffered the worst fires, the worst deforestation, and the worst abuses of indigenous rights on record in the Amazon, but subsequent events show that these were the last gasps of a discredited and rejected model and not a warning of things to come.  Instead, help is on the way.

Democracy triumphed over authoritarianism in Brazil, in the United States, in France, and unexpectedly but most encouragingly in Ukraine.  The world expected the Russian invasion to be over in a week, but the Ukrainians had other ideas.  Ten months later they fight on, and they're winning.  God bless them, and preserve the right.

The year ended with a successful nuclear fusion experiment, holding out the eventual hope of cheap, clean energy for all, indefinitely.

As for my husband and me, our happiness only grew, and our progress toward our personal and professional goals only advanced.  Everyone in our enormous extended families on four continents is well, thank God:  ten people were touched by covid, but all survived.  We welcomed two new family members in 2022, a baby boy in Brazil and a baby girl in the United States, living embodiments of a hopeful future.

Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and a New Year of health, happiness, and hope to all.  Forward to meet 2023!

For me 2022 has been sort of a bookmark. A period of calculated planning and waiting. Knowing full well that one period of my life is drawing to a close. A work life l have known for 40 odd years. I have most of the elements in place for my new life. Just have to wait a little longer and be 100% sure the timing is right. Cheers to all!

@Roddie Simmons

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?

A: To prove to the possum it could be done.😄😄

Michael,

I am not a political guy, but it struck me when I heard about the unrest in Brasilia, living now in far Northern Brazil that when I was in MD. In the United States I was only a few miles from Washington, DC on January 6th.

Roddie in Retirement🕵🏽

Is There a Brazilian Expat Podcast?

Roddie in Retirement🕵🏽