NMC055 New Mexico Visit

Daphine Mbithuka

NMC055th_New_Mexico_Visit

Episode #55: New Mexico Visit

Recorded: May 03, 2017

Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Subject: Going back to our roots – New Mexico!

Home sweet home! We can sometimes forget the experiences that made us feel at home – the places we’ve spent so much time which helped make us who we are. We can even get to a point where we don’t get excited to go visit home. As Rosa Linda Román admits, this is the exact feeling she had when the sailing family decided that they would be visiting New Mexico, despite this being the Land of Enchantment.

In this week’s episode of New Mexi-Castaways, Rosa Linda shares how reconnecting with all her friends, and being in the middle of such beautiful scenery, made this visit much more enjoyable than she expected. She also shares how exhilarating it was for Samuel to be back in New Mexico since he had longed for it for quite some time.

Also in this episode, Rosa Linda talks about their experience with owning a Homeaway (now VRBO) vacation rental condo in Mexico, the problems they’ve had with it, and the dilemma they faced on whether to sell it or not. Are you curious to know more about this? Listen in and enjoy.

P.S. If you liked this episode check out our most recent episode:

NMC053 Nala Dog Drama

 

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Episode Transcript:

Rosa Linda Román (00:28): Hello, and welcome to New Mexi-Castaways and I actually could call this New Mexicast because we are in New Mexico. This is the first time we've been in New Mexico since we left in June of 2016, almost a year that we've been away. It's really wild to be here. When we crossed the state line, we drove from Arizona before that we were in Mexico and we drove into New Mexico yesterday afternoon, and the kids let out a cheer. They were very excited to come into the state of New Mexico. And I have to admit, I thought that I wouldn't feel as excited to be here as I am. For one thing, it's so great to reconnect with friends who I haven't seen in a while, but also, the beauty here is stunning. And I always forget how beautiful New Mexico is. Rosa Linda Román (01:22): We live in the East Mountains of Albuquerque. We spent the afternoon in Albuquerque at a friend's house. They had one group of friends. Oh, look at that. A road runner just ran in front of me. I swear I am not making this up. I am officially welcomed back to New Mexico. So yeah, we have, first of all, let me back up for a second in case you're new to my show let me introduce myself. I'm Rosa Linda Román. I go by Rosa Linda, and in the past, I've had a TV show from New Mexico called New Mexicast. But my TV show got put on the back burner really as I now focus mostly on the fact that my family lives on a sailing catamaran and the best way that I do most things is that I, oh, somebody is waving at me. I don't know if they know me or they're just happy that I stopped at the stop sign. Rosa Linda Román (02:22): And okay, so anyway this is what… Basically, what you're just listening to is what this podcast is all about, Rosa Linda's ramblings. I've been calling the show New Mexi-Castaways because we live on the sailing catamaran, but here we are in New Mexico and it's really an exciting, wonderful thing to be back. It's just the kids in me here in New Mexico. My husband had to work, although he comes back to New Mexico, not this area, but to Alamogordo once a month because he still does his clinical work here. He's a physician. And so, he at least gets to see the Land of Enchantment from time to time. It's been an interesting thing being back. For one thing, you realize like who your real close friends are because it's like no time has passed. Rosa Linda Román (03:11): My friend that I'm staying with is wonderful. She's my best friend and it literally like no time has passed and I haven't seen her in almost a year. And then, there's my playgroup friends, which right now that's where I'm heading to meet this group of friends for coffee. I'm super late. I'm actually supposed to be there now. And I'm about a half an hour away. So, that's not good. I sent a text to one of my friends saying I'm sorry, I think we're still on island time, and I'll be there as quickly as I can. I dropped off the kids at a friend's house. They are having a playgroup right now, so that's nice. They get to be with their friends and now I'm going to go visit with my friends. And yeah, it's just a relaxed trip to New Mexico. Rosa Linda Román (04:04): It was unexpected. Long story, let me kind of back up since it's been a whirlwind, we went to The Bahamas on our boat and had four months there, and you can listen to past episodes about the drama with immigration and why we came back sooner than we expected. And we returned to Florida where we are now getting the boat ready and prepping things, adding new solar panels, fixing the trampoline. But we got back to Florida and pretty much like two days later, yeah, we had Passover in Florida. We got to see our former nanny, Allie, and her cousin. And then right after that, the girls, the kids went to Chicago to be with my family. And they were celebrating Easter there, so they actually got all the holidays, lots of Easter egg hunts, which made them very excited, lots of candy. Rosa Linda Román (05:00): And so, the kids spent two weeks in Chicago with my family and seeing their cousins, which was awesome for them. And it was good for Nathan and me to spend some time getting the boat projects done without the kids there because obviously with the kids home and the fact that we homeschool it's a constant, you know, they need constant attention, and so, it's really hard to get any projects done consistently. And so, when they were in Chicago we worked on many things on the boat, and yeah, it was really good. Nathan wasn't there the whole time, but while he was there, he got the, let's see, the bilge pump, automatic bilge pump was broken. There was a something… some pump bed was supposed to be pumping stuff out of the shower. It was pumping the water into our boat in the bottom of the boat. Rosa Linda Román (05:56): And then, because that, and the auto bilge pump was broken, we had lots of water in the bottom of our boat. So, it's definitely a… it was a lot of projects like that, not necessarily relaxing, but a more relaxing pace because we didn't have the kids there. So then, Nathan went back to work. He had various conferences in Vegas, and then, he went back to New Mexico and, you know, all that stuff. And so, I just had a few days by myself on the boat, actually, a few days with Nala, and then, a few days by myself. Nala is our one-year-old German shepherd who was there with me for most of the time. And then, I had one whole day all by myself after the babysitter or dog sitter now, Allie took Nala. So, I actually had a full day to myself on the boat, which was magical. Rosa Linda Román (06:53): I realized I've been with my family nonstop in this tight space since we moved on the boat a year ago. It's not quite a year, but I'm saying a year, really, like 11 months. And so, it was glorious to have that day just to myself to…. I didn't relax, but I got my projects, you know, I worked on my projects and got my stuff done. So, that was great. So then, after that, I flew to Chicago to pick up the kids, see my family, spent a couple of days. We had a very nice time visiting with my siblings and parents. And then, we went and flew to Phoenix to meet Nathan where all we did was drive down to Mexico. So, now, we have a condo in Puerto Penasco or Rocky Point Mexico. And it was always our personal vacation home where we just always went when we needed a vacation as a family. It was not a place that we rented to anybody else. And it was wonderful. Rosa Linda Román (08:03): Well, when we moved down to the boat, we decided that we would put it into the rental pool, which is a real process to do that. You have to kind of jump through a lot of hoops and make it exactly the way that The Rental Association wants you to make it and it was weird. We've been renting it. And part of the main reason we went down to Mexico is because we didn't really know where our money was. I know that sounds awful, but I had been handling the rental property. It really was my project because my husband didn't really want to rent it out. To him it was just a pain in the butt and to have to deal with one more thing like that, you know, he's got enough on his plate without renting out and managing renters and whatnot. Rosa Linda Román (08:55): And it was an interesting challenge for me because I've never done that before. I created a HomeAway account, which is the same thing as VRVO as well. And it took a lot of work and got beautiful pictures and, you know, got everything set up. And then, little by little we started getting people… inquiries, and then we eventually rented it, and we rented it, I'd say maybe 40% of the time. And it was good. It was good for me to learn how to manage that and try to negotiate things with people. And I had to coordinate with The Rental Association in Mexico, and yet all of this happened with the, like, so once it was rented Las Palomas, which is the place that the condo manager, I don't know what, it's the name of the place where our condo is. Rosa Linda Román (09:50): They would put the money in our Mexican bank account, which we had to really go through like this whole crazy process in order to allow us to have this account so that they could pay us for renting out this unit. So, we could not figure out, they had given us like a card, like, it's like a digital password generator, and using that we were supposed to be able to get into our account, see our balance, see transactions, and we also have a person in Mexico who helps us manage things. If there's something broken on the condo we alert her and she goes in there and helps fix it, or her company does. Well, we didn't know how, we knew that she was like paying our bills like electricity or whatever bills needed to be paid, but we didn't know how to access the account. And she didn't have any way to help us access the account. Rosa Linda Román (10:51): And so we're like, "Okay, so how do we do this?" So finally, we went down to Mexico, went to the bank, and sat for a whole afternoon just trying to figure it out. And it was complicated and it was good that we went there, but the best news was that our money was there. It was in the account where it was supposed to be. And it made me feel really good because as much as I love New Mexicast and have loved the process of staying current in my skill set and all of that I've never made any money doing this. And, you know, I was a professional broadcaster and made a nice salary before my kids were born. And then, I went to like screeching hall, not bringing in any income, which fortunately we're in a position because of my husband's job but I was okay, we were fine with that. Rosa Linda Román (11:38): But it always bothered me, you know? In the back of my head, I'm like, "I just want to bring something in." And I tried getting advertisers on the show, but I just couldn't do content creation and try to manage marketing, and you know, getting sponsors, and all of that. I did get a few like the New Mexico Bed and Breakfast Association which was awesome, thanks to Sarah Dolk for that. And we also had a bootcamp. I don't think it exists anymore, but with Dr. Mark [PH 12:13] Ocurie, he and his partner then partner sponsored New Mexicast. So, I had some sponsors along the way, but it just wasn't enough to cover the costs of creating the content and buying the equipment and all of the things that came with it. Rosa Linda Román (12:29): So, my husband always joked, it was just my expensive house. But in the back of my mind, it kind of bothers me. You know, it always bothered me that I didn't want to only, I mean, I'm not a big spender, but when it comes to, you know, video equipment, and computers, and stuff, I like to have the nicer things when I'm working. And so, I just always wanted to find a way to at least cover those costs and I never did. So, this condo was a pleasant surprise for me because I've been just managing it along the way. It hasn't taken a huge amount of energy away from my family and hanging out on the boat with them, and homeschooling, and all that. I'd say, I probably have spent maybe three hours a week responding to inquiries, troubleshooting any issues, and that kind of thing. Rosa Linda Román (13:24): And so, to find that money safely where it was supposed to be and this was all profit, this was all after our business expenses… all the expenses were paid, it was just such a relief and it made me feel great. And so, we started talking about that, and he said, "Well, you know, maybe this should be your job." And I said, "Well, you know, I will…" In other words, if I marketed a little bit and spent a little time really tweaking the listing, and also, I recorded some videos that I think would be nice for our renters to see and become more familiar with the quirks of our condo and just make them feel much more welcome. I'm hoping then I can start renting it a few more days a month and that would definitely be worth it. Rosa Linda Román (14:13): So, that's my new goal, is to try to add some additional rental dates and now Las Palomas does rent it out for us as well, but they don't put people in there that much because ours is kind of a unique higher-end condo because it's a penthouse and you can grill on the patio, which most of the units, you can't. You have to go down and barbecue, you know, in the common grills down below. And it's really set up for entertaining. So, it's a special place, but not really for just someone going down there for the weekend with their family. It's more like three families get together and rent this place, okay? But with that in mind, so anyway, Las Palomas rents it, and then, we get, I think it's like 60% if they put someone in there. Rosa Linda Román (15:06): But if I do an owner referral where I get the person in there then we get 75%. So, it it's worth it to put that extra effort because we get that extra percentage of whatever they're charging. And by the way, they set the rates. We don't get to determine what we charge. So, it's actually much higher than I would have charged, but that is the rate that they set. And if we go below the minimum rate, we would be kicked out of the rental pool. So, we're not allowed to do that. We can't just like have our friends and family go for a hundred bucks or something. We're not allowed to do that. And it's not worth it because then we'd be kicked out. So anyway, when we were in Mexico, we decided, okay, I can do a few things here and there to make it that much more enjoyable and hopefully, get some repeat guests and whatnot. Rosa Linda Román (16:00): And so, one of the things that I realized being there was that it didn't feel like our home anymore or home away from home. It felt like a familiar hotel. And that's because all of the little touches that make it feel homey to me were removed because they felt like, well, people will just steal this stuff. And so, you need to just put it in the owner's closet. We have a closet that you can lock just for you and your personal belongings. And the guests are not supposed to mess with that. And so, they put all like the Ziploc bags, and our beach towels, and extra like blankets. Like, when I was sitting on the balcony the other morning where it was nice and chilly in the morning, I wanted a blanket to snuggle up to, to be out there on that beautiful morning. Rosa Linda Román (16:53): And at that point, we hadn't found our key to the owner's closet yet. And so, I couldn't get any of my stuff out, and having that feeling of what it would be like for a regular renter made me feel like, you know, it's great, and I'm sure if they came here thinking it was like a hotel, it's still exceptional because it's got all of the dishes, and silverware, and utensils, and lots of other things that, you know, are convenient, you know like obviously blenders and toasters. And we have a Keurig coffee maker there and stuff like that. So, it's not like it's sparse, but for me, and especially, with kids, you know, there's a lot of little things that you want to have with you. And so, all of those were in the owner's closet, just shoved in there, a big mass. Rosa Linda Román (17:43): And so, once we finally got the closet open I realized there's really very little in there that I care deeply about. And this comes from the KonMari process that I went through, where we downsized our house in order to move onto the boat. And we did this system called KonMari, which, you know, I've talked about many, many times, the life-changing magic of tidying up. And that's how we reduced the number of things we have so that we could move on to the boat. Well, we basically still have that sensibility now looking through our other spaces. And so, looking at the Mexico condo, and all that stuff in the owner's closet I realized I really… most of this stuff I don't miss it, I won't need it. Rosa Linda Román (18:35): Even our own personal bins with our clothes in them, most of those clothes, you know, I haven't had them in a year and I didn't miss them. So, we decided we were going to take a different approach, and instead of trying to set it up, so that was our personal stash hidden away from everyone. We created it. We set it up as a VIP closet, and I'm actually coming into Albuquerque right now. So, I need to look at directions. So, I'm going to pause this. I'll come back and tell you about our VIP closet after the break. Rosa Linda Román (19:17): All right, I'm back. And at least for a little bit before I have to get off on my exit. Now I know where I need to go, so I'm good. So, the VIP closet, the idea is because I do get that extra percentage by renting through HomeAway or VRBO, I want to make them feel special, I want to do what I can to make them refer their friends through the same system. And through this HomeAway process, you get to know the person that's going to be renting your unit. You have to communicate with them, and you know, how they handle the communication a lot of times informs how… you know, it helps you see what kind of guests they're going to be. You know, if they're nitpicking over every single little thing and complaining, and before you have even, you know, taken their deposit, then you know, okay, this is going to be a difficult guest. Rosa Linda Román (20:19): We've had one exception. With one exception, everybody's been really great renting the place. The one exception was, I think somebody rented it with their name and then left a bunch of teenagers in our condo because they did a ton of damage. They ripped out the safe, they broke the closet, they broke lamps. My downstairs neighbors tell me they were peeing off the balcony down the side of the building. You know, just unbelievable, but that is by far the exception. Most of our guests are amazing and wonderful. And so, it occurred to me that, you know, I would love to give them access to this owner's closet. This is stuff that, honestly, I would have donated at this point, right? Because I've KonMarid. It doesn't necessarily spark joy so much that I need to take it with me. Rosa Linda Román (21:13): We don't have room on the boat, that's for sure. We don't have, even here in our home, in New Mexico, which I haven't been to yet, you know, I don't want to just keep adding stuff there. So, I thought, you know, why not set it up so that I can let those few guests that I really feel good about have access? So then, they have the Ziploc bags, and the extra toilet paper, and extra paper towels, and our tools, we have, like, you know, just in case they need a tool for something. I mean, just stuff that you have in your home that makes it feel homey, right? So, that's what I did. I spent though… we were in Mexico for four days and I spent a good part… I did relax, and I had a very nice time with my family. Rosa Linda Román (22:04): But Nathan had to leave and we were supposed to leave, the kids, and I, and Nathan, we were all going to leave on Monday, which would have been yesterday. We would have left Mexico on Sunday, and then, gone back to Phoenix, and flown back to Florida. But this is the beauty of our lifestyle. We can change our minds and change our plans if we want to because the kids are homeschooled and we can explore in different ways without feeling like, "Oh my gosh, we have to get back." Now, my poor husband he still has to get back, but the kids and I don't. And so, we changed our flights, and we extended the rental car. And the other part was we knew we were close to, you know, pretty close to New Mexico. Yes, it's an 11-hour drive from Mexico, but Samuel, since we left New Mexico, he has wanted to come back to New Mexico. Speaker 1 [Indiscernible 22:56)] Rosa Linda Román (22:58): It's my directions. Samuel has wanted to come back to New Mexico and it's kind of funny because the kids and I say, you know, he remembers it more fondly now that he's gone than he ever spoke about it when he was here. You know, he would complain about the snow, and every day he came home from daycare, or from his little pre-K, he would say, nobody liked him, and he had no friends, and, you know, he's that kind of kid. But the minute we left, man, New Mexico was the greatest, and it's all he's ever wanted is to come back. So, we were thinking about that and we have a lot of friends here and Ziva has definitely missed her best friend and Ahava missed her best friend. And so, we thought why don't we just extend? Rosa Linda Román (23:47): Nathan was just going to work. He had a conference in Vegas, and then, he's got his clinical work in Alamogordo, which is another part of New Mexico, not here. And I thought, why are we rushing back to the boat? That's silly, you know? It's all good. We can just be there, be wherever we want. And so, we decided to change our ticket. And we stayed in Mexico for an extra two days. That gave me time to prep the condo much better. And I set up that owner's closet and we left a little like guest book with some of some notes of our favorite things and just made it a little bit more welcoming. I have no idea how it will be received. I have no idea if it's going to be destroyed, hang on, that's my GPS. You know, I just don't know what to expect, but I figure one of the things, if anything, I have learned from this boating and sailing to various islands experience, it is that everybody who, if you focus on and do things based on fear if you do things based on fear you will miss out. Rosa Linda Román (25:03): And that was really, really evident to me when we put our kids in the little local school in Georgetown, and they had an amazing experience. And yet there were many, many people who said, "Oh, I would never put my kids in that school. It's terrible." And I heard this story and that story and these terrible things happened, and none of those things happened. And we had a delightful time and we met some of our favorite people in the world that we're just really grateful for. So, my point is that, yes, I'm a little afraid that somebody is going to destroy things, but I can't control that. And the only thing that was left in there that we actually cared about a little bit are our clothes. And even those I could totally do without. This is my GPS still talking, sorry, I got to do hands-free, so. Rosa Linda Román (25:58): So anyway, bottom line is we set it up as a VIP closet. I think it's going to prove to be a great thing. And this goes back to my, The Secret. If I've talked about this before, where you basically create the world that you want, and you know, you have to believe it, and then, you receive it. You ask, you believe, and receive. And basically, what I'm asking for is this great life where we have awesome renters in this great place where we can visit it when we want to. But when we don't want to it's there for someone else to enjoy and they're going to take care of it. And I also set up… when we came through Tucson, okay, so after we left Mexico, we went to Tucson and we saw my brother-in-law. We stayed with him for a night, not enough time. We needed way more time with him and we definitely need to make another trip. Rosa Linda Román (26:48): And we saw our former nanny Lidio, and sorry, I'm almost there, and Lidio is a wonderful person who we just adore. And she had gone to the condo with us many times. And so, we decide… I realized, why don't I just ask her to help me, you know, go there. She lives in Tucson, so it's relatively close, you know, help me keep an eye on this place. And so, we met her for bagels yesterday and she agreed that she would help keep an eye on the condo. So, you know, it just works out. Once you decide that you could do things creatively you find a way to do so. And I'm here. So, I'm going to meet my girlfriends for coffee and I will talk to you more after. Rosa Linda Román (27:52): All right, I'm back, and that was a wonderful meeting with my girlfriends, coffee, just really enjoyed it very much. And now I am heading back up to the East Mountains after I'll stop to get some gas, but it's just so great to be with girlfriends. And that is, I would say if there's anything that is my least favorite part of being on the boat is that you really don't have a lot of time to spend with girlfriends, female connections, whether it's other moms of other, you know, my kids' friends, or just with my own friends. Yeah, so it's an interesting thing being back here. It's stirring so many thoughts and questions for me. And then, out of the blue as I was getting in the car I got a text from Nathan, just checking to see how things were. And he asked me, he said, "Guess what? We just got an offer on the condo." The Mexico condo that I just was talking about. Rosa Linda Román (29:04): We got an inquiry from our realtor that we bought it from, Dan Monroe. I don't know, maybe a month ago asking if we would ever consider selling it or maybe Nathan initiated it, I don't know how it started, but basically, financially, Nathan was looking at options and thought maybe we should consider selling the Mexico condo. Financially, it would make the most sense, but it's a special place and the idea of giving it up is not really attractive to us. But then, again, we've only gone there once in a year. So, you think, "well, if that's the case is it worth leaving it, you know, having owning it to use it once a year?" And yes, we get the rental income and whatnot, but we can always just rent a place in Las Palomas for the few times we actually go there without all the headache and responsibility. Rosa Linda Román (29:55): So, that's what we've been asking ourselves about. And at about a month ago, maybe Nathan gave the go-ahead to put it on the market with a very high asking price. And that someone… as we were leaving, as a matter of fact, I was in the elevator with all of our stuff that the suitcases, and the kids, and coming down the elevator to go to our car to leave, there was a guy that got on the elevator and we started talking and he is a realtor and he works with our realtor and he was wanting to show our unit. And I said, "Well, it hasn't even been cleaned. We just left." It's not in terrible shape because we take pretty good care of it, but you know, the maid hadn't even arrived and cleaned it up. Rosa Linda Román (30:48): And so, I wasn't sure if he was going to show it, he wanted to show it the next morning. Long story short, he ended up apparently showing it, and we got an offer just now. And so, Nathan and I had just had a conversation that really is the first time we've had this conversation through this process. There's a few different ways that we've been thinking about our lives. And, you know, we moved on to the boat with certain things that we've been aspiring to or seeking. And a lot of that is just the freedom to be with our family and to enjoy the kids while they're young and to explore things in the way that we want to as a family without all the restrictions that come from kind of being in a normal "normal" lifestyle. Rosa Linda Román (31:39): And part of that is one of the kids and I were leaving, you know, driving from Mexico all the way here, talking about, you know, what we envision, what we would like next, that kind of stuff, we started to… in my mind, Ahava, in particular, and Ziva are the ones that I talked to the most about this and just talking about, well, what would that look like? Like, if we did life when we do life because we have to be proactive, right? And be positive that what we want will come to pass. Again, that's The Secret, you ask, you believe and you receive. So, when we have the life the way that we want it, what will that look like? And the way that I see and the way I would do it is as follows. And I'm going to pause while I get gas, and then, I'll explain my vision and then kind of talk a little bit about how that may be changing if we sell the Mexico condo. So, I'll be right back. Rosa Linda Román (32:48): All right, I'm back, I got my gas and cleaned the eight gazillion bugs off my windshield from our drive, from across Arizona. It's the time of year, it's spring, so there's a lot of bugs bladder. That's so gross. I always think of Men in Black, that opening scene from the original Men in Black movie where they're driving down the highway and there's like the, what do you call it? A dragonfly, and then, it splats on the windshield. Anyway, if you haven't seen that movie, you have no idea what I'm talking about, but that's what I think about when I clean bugs off my windshield. So, now I'm heading up the mountain. I finished the coffee with my friends and heading up to go get my kids from their play date. Sounds like they had a blast. Rosa Linda Román (33:39): And then, we're probably going to go up and see our house which is super exciting and nervous. Our dog who stayed with the house, Laila will be there as well. So, I'm excited about that. And then, this afternoon, it's going to be more connections with Ziva's best friend, and hopefully, Ahava's best friend, and we'll see. The goal of this whole trip is just reconnecting. And with that in mind, that is basically what I realized. I really… that's the part that I miss, and I really want to keep in our lives as I was talking to Nathan about this unexpected offer on the condo. You know, I said, we really just need to get clear on what part of all of this we want to keep, meaning you know, what part of what we've built, whether it's the boat, we've got the condo in Mexico, the house here in New Mexico. Rosa Linda Román (34:38): You know, what part of all of this matters to us and what part can we let go of? And I realized, and I've been realizing this a lot just from the boat experience that really a lot of this stuff doesn't matter if we don't have Nathan to be with us. He works still, basically, three full-time jobs or more because he's building a company at the same time as, you know, doing his normal work. And his normal work is way more than a lot of people would do in a normal week. So, with this in mind, you know, financially, it makes a lot of sense to sell the condo in Mexico, especially, because we're not getting there. But when I was talking with the kids, you know, we dream big. You know, we never settle for like, "Oh yeah, this is great." Rosa Linda Román (35:34): And I don't know. We've always seen, like, there's always a way to live whatever big dream you have. And with that in mind, I'll just say out loud, what we were talking about was that it would be nice to just keep the homes that we have and be able to fly where we want when we want, and have that place available to us when we feel like spending two weeks in Mexico we go to our condo and spend two weeks in Mexico. And then, when we're not in Mexico, we spend some time on the boat and we can do that when we want. When we feel like spending some time skiing in New Mexico and being in our home, we could do that even though I'm not that big on winter. You know, there's something to be said for that and, and having that option is very attractive. Rosa Linda Román (36:35): So, that was kind of what we were talking about, Ahava in particular and Ziva and I talking about how we could set it up so that we basically have homes or a place that feels like home in several places. And then, you know, that would kind of satisfy my gypsy spirit while still giving them a sense of stability to be able to be with people we love at each place that we go. But then now this offer on the condo and we'll probably not accept this offer because it's low. But the fact is that means there's a good chance there'll be new offers coming in the future. And you know, what, if somebody comes to us with our number and says, "Great, I want to buy it for what you're asking." Then where does that leave us? Is that what we want? And these are the things we struggle with. Rosa Linda Román (37:28): And again, I said to Nathan, I said, "You know, in the end, I want you to think about if you did this, like…" I said, "If we sell the condo and nothing changes, and you're just working still as much as you are, and you're gone as much as you are, and you're unable to really relax when you're with us, then I don't see the point in selling the condo. But if it means that you could let go of even one thing by doing this, then let's sell the condo. You know, that's how I feel about it." Because at this point it's just the financial burden it falls on Nathan. He worries about those things. That's kind of his department. And, you know, I don't want him to be stressed. Rosa Linda Román (38:16): The idea of this is to be able to sail and explore or travel, maybe not by sailing, but through other, maybe we, you know, do like home swapping or traveling, you know, for a month at a time in different regions, you know, to be able to do that with him so that he can be present and enjoy it as well. So, that's what's on my mind. I know this episode has gone longer than most because I've got a lot on my mind. I mean, coming back home, if you will, which I do think this is one of our heart homes, coming back here, definitely stirs up a lot of questions and makes me really think a lot. So, I'll share another, I'm sure I'll record another episode toward the end of this trip so you guys can hear our impressions from when we actually go to our house. Rosa Linda Román (39:08): And just in general, if we decided to yes, sell the condo or what our decisions are, we've got a lot to talk about and it doesn't help, obviously that, you know, we're in different states, and he's right now getting on an airplane from Vegas to El Paso, and we can only talk in sound bites, really. That's pretty much my relationship right now with my husband is we talk in sound bites, "Okay. I love you. I hope you have a great trip. Bye." And then, he's off, or I'm off, and I got the kids that need attention. So yeah, that's the part that I struggle with and I guess that's why I have this podcast so I can talk it out. Even when I don't have another human being physically close to talk to I have you guys, so thanks for being my sounding board. And if you do like these podcast episodes, please either leave us a review, leave me a review in iTunes, or Stitcher, or anywhere that you get your podcasts, or send me a note at rlr@newmexicast.com. All right, thanks for watching or listening. And if you want to watch, you can also check out my Facebook page. It's facebook.com/newmexicast. All right, I'm Rosa Linda Román. Have a great week. Bye.

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