I haven’t published a blog post for a couple of weeks, because I’ve been paralyzed. Not literally paralyzed, but consumed by the irrational but still-crippling fear that after all of the planning, dreaming, hoping, praying, and finger-crossing, we would not be able to find a house to rent in San Miguel. Thinking rationally, I knew we would find something. Maybe it wouldn’t be in the perfect location, or the perfect size, or within the budget we had arbitrarily set, but we would find a house. Still, there was a little person on my other shoulder telling me to start preparing for homelessness (and that little person sounded a lot like Ben).

I found a house a few weeks ago, but the owner was then diagnosed with a health problem and decided not to rent it. It’s a beautiful house in a great location, so we were disappointed. But if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s online research and networking, so I got to work. I checked Yahoo groups and Craigslist for long-term rentals, and posted ads seeking housing. I looked at VRBO and AirBNB for short-term possibilities that we could rent for our first couple of months in SMA, while we looked for something long-term. I checked realtor websites and asked around.

A few days ago, I had 4 homes on my short list, and a spreadsheet to analyze the pros and cons. I swear it was exactly like an episode of House Hunters International. All of the houses have enough bedrooms and bathrooms, and they are all within budget. House 1 has a yard, which would be great for Annie (the dog), but is the farthest from school (1 ¼ miles). House 2 is absolutely gorgeous, but is not available for the full year, has the highest rent, and is a mile from school. House 3 has a casita that would be great for guests and is closer to school, but the owners are planning to sell it.

And then there’s House 4. Our house. Or should I say, “nuestra casa.” Once I emailed with the owner, talked on the phone with the current tenant, and pored over the online photo album, I knew it was THE ONE. It’s beautiful. There are 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a really nice living space, a big terrace, and a roof deck. The owner and property manager seem great, and the current tenant loves the house but has little kids and worries that they’ll fall down the stairs during the night.

Best of all is the location. It is 400 meters to school, and about the same to el Jardin – the main square that is the heart of the town. Its 250 meters to the library and to our friends John & Carolyn’s house. I can reach my favorite ice cream man in less than 5 minutes. The dry goods store, butcher shop, and vegetable market are all nearby. We won’t need a car, which is fortuitous since we won’t be taking our cars with us. When we need to go to the soccer field, supermarket, or el tianguis (weekly market), we’ll have to take the bus or a taxi. It will be the first time in more than 30 years that I haven’t been completely reliant on my car. I can’t imagine what that will be like.

The one twist with this house is that the lease starts on July 1^st – we were planning to go to SMA on August 1^st. Our new landlord has said it’s ok for our friends to use the house before we arrive, so if you are interested in spending some time in SMA (without us), let me know! Otherwise, we may just pack faster and hit the road. It’s amazing how motivational a deadline can be.

Yesterday I wrote about my job – what I do and how it came about. There’s more I wanted to say, but I was afraid that too much door-talk would make some of you pass out from boredom (except my door-people who are reading this…I can hear you hanging on every word! 🙂 ).

First, I’m so grateful to be able to work from any location that has a stable internet connection, and have the flexibility time-wise to be a mom. That often means that I’m working at midnight or on the weekend, but it’s worth it to be able to chaperone the occasional field trip or pick up a sick kid from the nurse’s office. I’ve been working at home for more than 10 years, and getting work done has never been an issue. The biggest problem is knowing when to stop.

I don’t expect that working from Mexico will be a whole lot different, except that I hope to do a better job of setting limits. I have made some improvements in that area already; I used to work until at least 2 a.m. most nights. I was bragging to one of my favorite coworkers (now retired) that I had cut back and was usually in bed by midnight (yay me!), and he said, “Go to bed at 11 instead – it won’t make one bit of difference in your inbox.” He was right. I could work 24/7 and there would still be more to do, so I have to find the strength to walk away when my day (or night) is over.

I’ve worked from San Miguel de Allende before; in fact, for quite a few years our family has been traveling for a month or so each summer. I work part-time during that month, and also take some vacation time, but I’m able to keep my work-blog running and answer any questions that come in. I worked from Morocco last summer and also in 2012. Before that, most of our trips were in the US because the idea of taking 3 wild and crazy kids on an international extravaganza seemed insane. I had no issues working from Mexico in the summer of 2013…fingers crossed that the Mexican infrastructure won’t fail me.

The other great thing about my work is that I can use my amplified online voice to spread the word about whatever issues are important to me. I’ve written a lot about the importance of fire door assemblies that protect us when a fire occurs. I’ve evangelized about the hazards of traditional wired glass, which is responsible for more than 2,000 injuries in schools each year – injuries that are often debilitating and sometimes even fatal.  I’ve even used my reach to help a friend in need.

My hot topic now is school security, and specifically the means of locking classroom doors if there is an active-shooter in the building. Although there are code-compliant locks to provide security as well as free egress, fire protection, and accessibility, some schools are turning to less expensive retrofit security devices that teachers can use in an emergency. The problem is that when these barricade devices are installed, they can prevent or delay evacuation, and if an unauthorized person locks the door in order to commit a crime, most of these devices prevent staff or emergency responders from entering the classroom to help, even if they have a key.

Do you know how many crimes are committed in schools each year? According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES):

• “In 2012, students ages 12–18 were victims of about 1,364,900 nonfatal victimizations at school, including 615,600 thefts and 749,200 violent victimizations, 89,000 of which were serious violent victimizations.”
• “During the 2009–10 school year, 85 percent of public schools recorded that one or more of these incidents of violence, theft, or other crimes had taken place, amounting to an estimated 1.9 million crimes.”
• “During the 2011–12 school year, 9 percent of school teachers reported being threatened with injury by a student from their school. The percentage of teachers reporting that they had been physically attacked by a student from their school in 2011–12 (5 percent) was higher than in any previous survey year (ranging from 3 to 4 percent).”

The risk of “nonfatal victimization” at school is tens of thousands of times higher than the risk of an active shooter occurrence.  Do we really need to have these devices hanging next to the door so anyone has the ability to barricade the classroom? Does this increase the safety of our kids, especially considering how extremely rare active shooter events in schools really are? There are plenty of options for providing safety AND security at school, and my current mission is to make sure school districts consider the safety aspects rather than just looking for inexpensive security.

It’s so important to me that I’m able to educate people about these issues, especially those related to schools. I also work on changes to the building codes and fire codes; this process takes YEARS but it’s rewarding to make progress toward better codes that help to ensure the safety of building occupants.

Doors, locks, and codes…what’s not to love?  😀