Sweet and Sour

(Orange grove at Roca Milagro. Click image to enlarge)

Two couples from Florida just returned from a visit to Panama. While there, they toured the site of our proposed Roca Milagro residential development near Boquete and one woman sent me an email which said, in part: ". . . it is magnificent! It is even more beautiful than the pictures. . . We tasted the oranges (very sweet) and just fell in love with the property."

That, of course, was wonderful to read, and I appreciate her comments. That's the sweet part of this post.

What she also told me in the email, was that someone who I had met in Boquete several times was in the hospital with cancer. That's the sour part of this post. This man and his partner are two of the nicest people you could hope to meet anywhere. I wish him a full recovery and her the strength to deal with it all. They are also originally from the United States, and had purchased a business near Boquete to keep themselves occupied while they enjoyed the slower Panamanian lifestyle.

Life is so short, and we never know, day-to-day, what will happen to us. Accident and illness are always waiting to pounce on us. And, like it or not, as time passes we get old and frail. There is so little time, really, to enjoy ourselves and to share our time with friends and family. We need to celebrate our lives while we are young and healthy enough to do things, to travel, to see all the beautiful places our world has to offer.

I am sad today, and my thoughts are with my friend in Panama.