In March 2014 I was “right-sized” from the corporate world. Yes, they really used that term, although “released” is more appropriate, because I felt as if I’d been given a Get Out of Jail card. It was the swift kick in the ass I had been needing for oh, so long.

After 21 years in LA and 12 years at my job, I had dug myself into a comfortable, fairly well-paid rut. I, who had dreamed of living a life less ordinary. Who, in my youth, had envisioned following the sun around the globe, owning little, seeing and doing lots. I had become a property owner, a nester, a working stiff, trying to see the world in two-week increments of PTO (that’s Paid Time Off, for the uninitiated).

I used my Get Out of Jail card to spend a glorious six months waking up with the sun, doing anything I wanted and nothing in particular. When the unemployment ran out, I started looking for a job. Fortunately for me, it quickly became apparent that my disinterest in having my ass glued to a desk chair again for 50-plus hours a week was exceeded only by the corporate world’s lack of interest in hiring my 50-plus-year-old ass.

So that was that.

Which brings me to GDL — Guadalajara, Mexico. In a moment of clarity (followed by months of self-doubt and a seemingly endless string of home repairs that continued right up until two nights before my departure), I hit upon Teaching English as a Foreign Language as a way to fulfill my long-time dream of living abroad and provide at least a temporary answer to the question, “What’s next?”  I enrolled in ITTO Guadalajara, rented my property for a year, and hied to sunny Jalisco to begin a week of intensive Spanish language instruction, followed by a four-week TEFL certification course.

So here I am.

Make that, así que aquí estoy.