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13. I live in a rural guesthouse in Brazil with my mother, brother and his family. I spend most of my time taking care of my mom, who has dementia, or managing the guesthouse (cooking, cleaning, gardening.) The guesthouse opened in 2006 and ran for ten years. My brother and I wish to re-open it - first as an Airbnb.
12. We have a cleaner called Rosana who works for us every Friday. We've been chatting a lot about flowers and gardening; this past Friday she brought me a cutting of garden balsam, which I planted near our gardening shed.
11. I am a single gay man, just come out of a 20-year-relationship.
10. I lived in a narrow boat in London for a year, as part of research on a novel. I will hopefully pick up work on this novel again once the culture shock from moving to this small village in Brazil subsides. I'm also keen to get back into Portuguese-to-English translation work.
9. I meditate for 15 minutes each day, sometimes more. I also enjoy mindful walking and listening to podcasts on the subject.
8. My brother and I recently did a big clean up of our library. My next job is to reorganise the books by topics (gardening and cooking in the guesthouse's reception area, fiction, spirituality and non-fiction in the library.) I've also dug out a box of my mom's crochet and I'm trying to convince her to get back into it - so she doesn't spend all her time watching television.
7. I secretly enjoy soap operas and I'm now living in the country that produces the best ones (and sometimes the worst.)
6. I got into pull ups last year and wish to resume training here in Brazil, but I'm finding it hard to get motivated. I also love running (but haven't done much of it here).
5. My lovely co-workers in London gave me a Kindle as a goodbye gift. They even got a leather cover for it with a photo of myself and a friendly cat who lived near our office and who allowed everyone to pet it. I still get this cat's photo updates in our WhatsApp group.
4. I'm seriously considering adopting one or two kittens. Not only for the potential benefit of having company for myself and my mom, but for scaring away mice (that invariably attract rattlesnakes to our house). We already have five dogs.
3. I've had a few low days where I didn't even want to leave bed. Meditation has been key for managing my mental health and accepting this new cycle of my life.
2.
1. I turn 44 in less than 13 days.
