For Romance

For Romance! That is why I am moving to Eastern Europe. I have postponed the romance, that my innate temperament and personality craves, for long enough. This is the year that will make my Social Security income available. That income will be made significant in the Bulgarian economy. And will now allow me to seize the remaining decades of my time here, and gleefully pursue romance … with the means to do so.

I eagerly anticipate the joys of all of those wonderful exercises … in “keeping company,” “courting,” “dating,” “wooing” (now there is a word that I haven’t seen or heard for ages [smile]), with lovely and charming ladies. Exercises that I have never before had an opportunity to enjoy. I am enthused about getting to know individuals and families who live life at a pace reminiscent of a much slower, more thoughtful, gentler, and kinder time. Though I fully well know that my Idealist inclination paints these images in colours that are richer, deeper, and more vibrant that reality may live up to … I still permit myself the anticipations not unlike those felt when considering the joys of playing in the fantasy worlds provided by Disney.

I am eager to learn traditional folk dances, and make a complete idiot of myself in participating. I am impatient to envelope myself in the aromas of freshly baked breads prepared in small shops … fresh vegetables and products of local farms, as they are offered at the weekly public market. Having been subjected to the relentless background noises generated by an endless stream of motorized traffic (living, as I do, on one of the busiest thoroughfares in this county), I find delight in my anticipation of horse, or donkey drawn vehicles … ahhhhhh! The “romance” of silence!

And with all of these considerations playing giddy games in my imagination, I am reminded of the words from my darling little three-year-old friend, Madison, whilst we visited in the Wal-Mart yesterday. She watched as I spoke to a passing child who was riding in the shopping cart navigated my his mother. “I think that you really like children!” Madi-Lou (her alternate name variation) declared. And nothing could be more true. She had just demonstrated, at her Mom's prompting, her recall of what she and I had discussed over a year ago. Such a mind! I have a definite intent to contribute, in whatever way I can, to the education and development of children and young people in whatever village or hamlet I ultimately reside in. And to bask in the delights of their voices, noises, and energies. This is yet another expression of “romancing” my world.

So, My Dear Reader, I hope that this provides, at least, something in the way of satisfying your curiosities about my motivations to relocate to a world that I have never before seen … with an alphabet that makes absolutely no sense to me … employed in a language completely alien to me … encased in a culture that relates to nothing with which I am familiar. What an adventure! And you may consider this to be my permanent invitation to you to visit. All you need do is secure transportation to my location … and you will have a place of welcome and hospitable congeniality … for however long you care to visit. I would love to see you!


All Images from PUBLIC SOURCES