Take Heart, Your Time Has Come
I was standing in a Midtown restaurant in New York this week waiting for my table to be ready, when the maître d’ looked over at me and asked:
“Do you live in Manhattan?”
“No, I’m visiting.”
“Where do you live?”
“Panama City, Panama.”
“Panama? What are you doing in Panama?”
“I have a small publishing company,” I explained. “I publish information for people interested in living or retiring in other countries.”
“Ah, I’m thinking of moving overseas!” the man exclaimed with a big smile.
“How long have you been living outside this country?” he continued.
“In all, about 17 years,” I told him, “first in Ireland, then Paris, now Panama.”
“Do you come back and forth?”
“No, I’m in the States maybe a few times a year. Otherwise, we’re in Panama full-time.”
“That is what I think I want to do, too,” the man continued. “But maybe to start I will go somewhere part of the time…travel back and forth between there and New York for a few years just to see how it goes. My family is Greek, so I’m thinking Greece. What do you think of that?” he asked.
“Sounds like a great idea to me,” I replied.
In New York this week, standing in taxi queues, in store checkout lines, and in ladies’ rooms waiting for my turn to wash my hands, I’ve had many similar conversations.
Used to be, years ago, whenever anyone asked me what I did for a living, my response bemused and confused. Finally, now, my interests aren’t considered part of the fringe element. Finally, now, increasingly, my interests are common interests.
Take heart, dear Live and Invest Overseas reader. Your time has come.
Kathleen Peddicord
