The swishing of the street cleaners’ broom wakes me from a light sleep.It is dark.Barking dogs wake up the doves near the terrace that roost for the night in a tree branch next to the skylight above my bed.They seem startled awake, their coos more like the dislodging of seed rather than birdsong.Beyond the hills, morning has begun to settle in, but in town, the rooftops and trees allow the cobalt darkness to nestle for just a bit longer and the garden doves still sleep, dreaming of whatever dove’s dream of.It is like a chain reaction - the broom, the dogs, the doves – all of us unintentionally moved somehow (except for the dust) from one place to the next and with the single, fleeting swish of a man’s broom, we are swept into another day.
Bare-faced and half asleep, I shuffle onto the terrace with the first golden light.The children, as usual, have beaten me.Already, a few of them are in the park, sporadic bursts of energy flashing across swings and slides.“I’m going to hug everybody today!” I hear one child yell.Good for you, I think.Only a kid would make such an insane proclamation, especially so early in the morning.I can’t think of a single instance where shortly after the whiplash of dawn, I’ve wanted to hug everyone. Particularly strangers.No rational adult would utter such words, especially before coffee is brewed and drunk.Maybe this kid already had his sippy cup of coffee y leche.In any case, I have to admit, it’s not a bad idea.Better to greet a new morning with a gentle embrace than being spanked into manana by the course bristles of a broom.
Good coffee, sun and birdsong have erased my abrupt beginnings.My rental casita and the surrounding trees feel like a veritable mother ship for myriad birds and winged mammals.Last night, at dusk, the “mondo bats,” as I call them, due to their astonishingly vast wingspan, burst from a massive palm and the neighboring belfry of the Parroquia, filling the night air with high pitched squeaks as they darted around the lampposts lining Calle Aldama.This morning, however, the music on the wing is of a far lighter spirit.One songbird sounds like a toy horn on a child’s tricycle, another like a harmonica.A red bird chirps something of a cross between a duck whistle and a fart in a bathtub, while another surely believes it was Maria Callas in a past life.I can’t help smiling.Early morning and I’m being serenaded by a feathered circus; the greatest hits of a horn tooting, harmonica playing, bathtub farting, cross-dressing birds’ choir.
The jacarandas just off the terrace are filling in and soon, they will explode with purple blossoms, hiding the dozens of nests that dot the limbs like a display of hand woven baskets. It’s been unseasonably hot and the potted geraniums and poinsettias are drooping, even the usually hardy cacti are slumping.Young boys are playing basketball in their red and black uniforms.The loudspeaker in the park begins the daily rehash of music, a rather odd mix of one-world “hits.”The reverberation of a hummingbird’s wings next to the yellow trumpet blossom is muted by the unexpected jolt of a Souza march.It’s followed by a calmer tune from the soundtrack of Cinema Paradiso.This in turn melds into a Mexican folk ballad, which not so eloquently trips like a woman in bad heels across these hard cobbled streets, into a Spanish version of Neal Diamond’s 1970 hit, Cracklin’ Rosie, only slightly less frightening in Spanish.Clothes, hung out to dry only a short time earlier, are already stiff and beginning to collect dust.
In a cooler corner of the stucco wall that drops down some twenty feet to the abandoned lot next door, and where a colonial ruin was reduced to further ruin to make way for Mexican Modern, a praying mantis does a lime green jig up the wall, back and forth, large black eyes intent on the minutia I cannot see or anticipate, lurking in and around a spider’s web.From the park I hear, “My name is Lola, just in case you wanted to know!”I glance over my shoulder at a tiny blond hanging upside down on the jungle gym.Below her is a little dark-headed boy, his shiny black hair all I see as he scrambles off the gym.Lola and the Praying Mantis.A good title, I think.For what, I don’t know.
Down on Reloj I stop for my weekly sinful indulgences at what the locals call The Blue Door Bakery.Family run, it is a sweet-lover’s heaven; warm, feather-light donuts sprinkled in sugar, cinnamon buns, cream-filled pastries, muffins, sugar cookies, churros, all vying for my attention.“Calm down,” I say, without moving my lips, “you’ll all get a turn, mi pequeno angeles.” I am not the only nut-filled ventriloquist present.Like kids in a candy store, adults here seem to walk around mumbling to themselves, smiling like we’re getting away with something, thankful for the steamy bakery air, tantalizing smells from our youth, and the very idea that we can buy and eat whatever we damn well please, without having to ask, “con permiso.”Sweet.
With my magic tongs, I fill an aluminum tray with an artistic mound of melt-in-your-mouth airy sugared fluff and bring it to the counter.It is gently placed in a brown paper bag, warm butter and oil already seeping through the paper.I carry it, like so many loose eggs, to the cashier.How, I wonder, can anyone resist a bag filled with a taste of heaven, or as Dutch friend used to say when describing something incredibly delicious, “it tastes like angels pissing on your tongue.”I pay my fifteen pesos and float out the door.
Rounding the corner on Mesones I look for the Avocado Lady.I first saw her two years ago.She was sitting on the stone steps of a church.She was selling mounds of avocados, buckets of calla lilies, a few limes and sprigs of oregano.She had the loveliest face.It was framed by a black shawl draped over her head.She never stopped smiling.It made the jagged crevices lining her weathered skin even deeper and wider.I found her again, this trip.She now sits on different stone steps down the street next to El Tomate. As before, she tends to mounds of avocados and limes resting on woven cloth.A basket of fresh herbs.She smiles like she knows me.I ask her how she is doing, “Hola, buenos tardes, Senora, como esta usted?” She is fine, she says.She looks older, but so do I.
I remembered her for many reasons.Her beauty is just one.There was and is something different about her of which I cannot fully explain.She radiates patience.That said, she never allows me to purchase the avocados I choose.She smiles, then pushes them away as her wrinkled hands roll over different fruit, ever so gently pressing the skin.“Para hoy?” she asks.“Yes,” I say, for today.And one for tomorrow, too.She hands me two that feel much too firm.I smile and shake my head.She smiles and nods.I buy the two she chooses.She is never wrong.I want the ones that feel soft to the touch, ready, now.She knows better.She suggests patience.I want instant gratification.Carpe diem.She sells me avocados that will ripen with time, perfect, and perfectly delicious.No hurry, she seems to say.There is wisdom in tomorrow.We can seize the day without forfeiting the beauty of manana, the blossoming, the magic of the ripening.Sometimes the process can be as wonderful as the end result.Would the bread taste as sweet if we didn’t smell it rising in the oven?The chicken soup as savory without the day long aroma filling the air with an intangible comfort and longing?There is something to be said about the thrill of anticipation.These are things she tells me, without words.
There is treasure in the waiting; in allowing for the unexpected.That is why I never forgot the Avocado Lady.And why I continue to look for her on those stone steps.I could buy my avocados elsewhere, but why would I?She knows something I do not.But I’m learning.She is beautiful because she seizes the day while embracing tomorrow.I like that.I slip my seemingly way too hard avocados into my basket and grinning, we bid one another, “Hasta luego!”
Heading home with a basket heavy with locally made mango yogurt, warm corn tortillas, a head of broccoli, Oaxacan cheese, a papaya, avocados, limes and pastries, I stop to rest in the central jardin.The Concheros ceremonial dancers have just begun.The first Friday of every March, they arrive here by the dozens to celebrate the Senor de la Conquista.They celebrate by dancing non-stop for hours on end in front of the ancient Parroquia church. The dancers, clad in pre-Hispanic costumes with elaborate headdresses of peacock feathers, are honoring the tradition based on early agricultural rites, asking the Lord of the Conquest for healthy crops, a good harvest. They will dance throughout the night, followed by offerings of fennel and flowers.
Deafening drumbeats all around are making my heart skip beats.The dancing is wild.Multi-colored feathered heads and bare, brown limbs are slashing at the hot late afternoon air.A wide-eyed infant, strapped to his mother’s back, is watching the spectacle in front of him.School children, under the watchful eye of their teacher, sit in neat, straight lines on the Parroquia steps.You can tell they want to move, to dance with the Concheros.They squirm in their neat line unable to sit still.The line gets wavy.A dog darts into the circle of dancers and miraculously, makes it out amidst the flurry of stomping feet.I swear its tail is wagging in time with the drums.My heart is beating to the dog’s tail.
On my terrace, the sun is setting pink and gold behind the dome of San Antonio Church.Behind that still, the soft undulating line of hills and mountains are muted by the pastel wash of dusk.Birds are flying towards their evening roosts.Soon, bats will begin to stir.My hand soaks up the moisture from the sweating margarita glass.Kids are still playing.Odd music continues to blare from the park, mingling with the distance drumbeats from the jardin.Lola is gone. The praying mantis is gone.A refreshing north wind picks up and rustles the tree limbs and nests.I’m still in short sleeves.I catch the smells of neighboring kitchens wafting through open windows.Cumin, chipotle, tortillas, pollo.The lanterns lining Aldama street turn on.The mondos take flight.I’m still smiling. I've forgotten about the street cleaners' broom.
And all the while, back home, it is snowing in Maine.
A native Californian, Jan Baumgartner is a freelance writer currently living in Maine. Her background includes scriptwriting, comedy writing for the Northern California Emmy Awards, and travel writing for The New York Times. She has worked as a grant writer for the non-profit sector in the fields of academia, AIDS, and wildlife conservation and anti-poaching for NGO's in the U.S. and Africa. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous online and print publications in the U.S. and internationally, including the NYT, Bangor Daily News, SCOOP New Zealand, Wolf Moon Journal, Media for Freedom Nepal, and Banderas News in Mexico. She's finishing a memoir about her husband's death from ALS and how travels in Africa became one of her greatest sources of inspiration and hope. She is a Managing Editor for OpEdNews.
Hans. Good to hear from you. Today begins the week long Cuban Festival. Already, Cuban beats are filling the jardin. Just down the street is the Havana Cigar Co. I am contemplating yet another "illegal" purchase of a good Cuban cigar -- in celebration of the festival -- but more so, at the very idea that I CAN purchase a Cuban in Mexico.
by
Jan Baumgartner (49 articles, 136 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 249 comments)
on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 3:50:48 PM
From: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org Sign up for our report at m3report@yahoo.com
The following is just one day of reports:
Also, there is the employment problem of the immigrants due to the economic recession in the United States, due to which the individual monetary remittances which reached almost 24 billion dollars in 2007 could fall by 30 percent." ---------------
a.m. (Leon, Guanajuato) 3/3/08
The state of Guanajuato (in central Mexico) is on the Central Americans' route to the U.S. and the Mex. immigration agency's ("INM") statistics show increased detentions in the last months. During 2006 the monthly average was 95, while from Jan. to June of 2007 this rose to 111. Most came from Honduras. On 2/22/08 a single event turned up 95. ---------------
Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Michoacan) 3/3/08
An executed victim near Uruapan was found face down, with his "upper and lower extremities tied with a rope". He'd also been tortured and shot on the head. The contents of a "narco-message" left with the body were not revealed. ---------------
Diario de Yucatan (Merida, Yucatan) 3/3/08
In Janos, Chihuahua, two more men were executed with more than fifty shots from assault rifles. And then given a coup de grace. (Janos is in NW Chihuahua, some miles south of the notch of New Mexico's southern border) Seventeen persons have been executed in this area since early February, while twenty others have been kidnapped. Another execution occurred just west of Chihuahua City; that one left two wounded. And yet one more victim fell to drug traffickers at Laguna de los Corrales, Guachochi,( in the southern part of the state) ---------------
El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 3/3/08
(from the main editorial:) "More than 91 homicides took place in the state of Sinaloa during the first two months of 2008." ----------------
El Diario de Coahuila (Saltillo, Coahuila) 3/3/08
1. Three local area drug traffickers were executed by armed men outside their homes almost simultaneously in the metro area of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
2. In the state of Chihuahua, 13 law enforcement agents have been killed by organized crime this year, while in all of 2007 14 met the same fate. -----------------
Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 3/3/08
Ricardo Fuentes Garcia, a Mex. army lieutenant, was shot and killed in another car-to-car gunfire assault in Juarez before dawn on Sunday. He'd been in charge of the "Rural Defense Corps" in the Juarez Valley. According to "SEDENA" (Mex. Dep't. of Defense) they have suffered four casualties in the state of Chihuahua since Jan. 1st and 33 nationwide. ------------------
Frontera (Tijuana, Baja Calif.) 3/3/08
Mex. federal agents and military personnel fired on some criminals at a house on Jicama St., Tijuana, before dawn. The firefight left one dead and two wounded, one of them a federal agent. The house, at Colonia Villa Floresta, is in front of where a kidnap victim was rescued last week. ------------------
La Voz de la Frontera (Mexicali, Baja Calif.) 3/3/08
Mexican army personnel arrested Agustin Garcia Perez, a member of a gang that was smuggling marihuana into the U.S. near Sonoyta, Sonora. The bunch scattered when they saw the military; five vehicles and two firearms were seized, one of them an AK47. One of the vehicles, a RAM 3500 -no VIN or plates - had a metallic ramp device built in which supposedly is used to carry the weed over the border fence and onto a similar vehicle on the other side. 600 kilos of weed were also seized. -------------------
Milenio (Mexico City) 3/3/08
Also near Sonoyta, Sonora, at the "San Emeterio Tactical Center": Carlos Perez Nieves was driving a Washington State plate Montecarlo (lic. 988-TIS). Inside: 2 assault rifles, 2 pistols and 4,175 rounds of ammo and 9 clips. A while later, a woman passenger in a bus carried luggage with a hidden area where there was $264,730 in various denomination bills. ------------------
Tamaulipas en linea Matamoros, Tamps.) 3/3/08
1. A Mex. army unit patrolling "the urban area along the banks of the Rio Bravo (Grande) near Valadeces" came upon 35 packages of marihuana, five firearms including AK47', five clips for AK47 assault rifles and 180 rounds of ammunition.
2. The Secretary of Government of the state of Tamaulipas, Antonio Martinez Torres, said that criminality in the area has diminished. ----------------
El Heraldo (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) 3/3/08
1. The Honduras' lawyers' association is asking the heads of the three branches of government to "scientifically" investigate the murders of 15 lawyers in the country in the last 18 months and threatened a work stoppage if no action is taken within one week. And in San Pedro Sula violence erupted at a pool hall across from the bus station; the resulting gunfire left seven people dead.
2. Sixty-two percent of children complete grade school in Honduras. ----------------
La Prensa Grafica (San Salvador, El Salvador) 3/3/08
On Saturday, February 9, 18 Salvadorans were murdered; the next day the number was 17. February's tally reached 268, a daily average of 9.25 murders a day. And January's totals were 273, or 8.8 murders a day. All this is still below the number for 2004, when the year's average reached 11 daily. ----------------- -end of report-
by
Joann (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 45 comments)
on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 5:08:15 PM
doesn't sound like Mexico is a good place for you. That said, I feel safer here than in many places in the States. I have been here for a few months, alone, and without incident. Having traveled to many third world countries, and hearing their views of the U.S., as well as the views of my European friends, they all see the States as being the most violent place in the world - many say they would never travel to the United States because of the random, senseless violence. There is much truth to that.
If you look back on the last few months, and want to post violence reports and stats in the U.S., perhaps it will put things in a bit clearer perspective. Look at the university shootings, the mass killings, the slaughter at two malls in the midwest within a couple of months of each other, on and on. We live in a violent world, period. We also have to pick and choose where we want to be, what feels safe, or not. In all of my travels I have never encountered violence or crime in any fashion, not in Mexico, not throughout Africa. I have, however, been robbed twice in the States. I also believe that we have to live life to the fullest, make wise, informed choices without burying our heads in the sand or being afraid of our own shadows.
Life is short. We can lose loved ones to premature illness, car fatalities, mall shootings, sending our kids to school. We take chances everyday. The many expats I've met here, from both the U.S. and Canada, after weighing options, looking at quality of life issues, doing their homework, have chosen to raise their children here; in a place they see far better fit to raise a family. Some still have young kids, others have grown children who were born and raised in Mexico: All fine, well, and happy. On the same note, my new Canadian friends here view the U.S. as a horribly violent place with such a loose and lawless gun culture, they find it rather alarming. I agree.
I shudder to think what a U.S. "violence report" and stats would read like if it were compiled and laid out here - as you have listed the reports on Mexico. I'm sure such a compilation exists and I think it would rival what you find so frightening from your above post. The most unnerving thing about violence in the States, is that it is not confined to drug executions, etc., as you point out in Mexico. We can get shot by going to class, shopping for a new blouse, or getting a hamburger at Wendy's. I find that far more frightening.
However, I appreciate your comments and your choices.
by
Jan Baumgartner (49 articles, 136 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 249 comments)
on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 6:33:21 PM
Lucinda Williams might as well have been writing about the fear Americans have when they abandon the safety net of American society. Jan wrote a sweet, beautiful poem to a day in Mexico. Why turn art into artifice?
Many of you would be terrified at the thought of visiting Congo, where 45,000 people a month are dying. I am certain that if MORE of us would abandon our safety nets and reach out to beautiful people, countrysides and cultures... the bad guys would lose.
We are a frightened, insular and isolated society.
by
Georgianne Nienaber (145 articles, 46 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 337 comments)
on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 12:34:40 AM
Jan: I don't mean to be rude ... just mean to inform.
In the San Diego Tribune there is a section on, "TIJUANA & THE BORDER", just in that section alone, they post reports everyday and run a continous galley for the month. Below are merely a few reports of the last month in a localized area of Mexico. My point is that Mexico is not a place for unaware US citizens to travel right now, gangs, drug cartels, and corrupt police depts. controlled by cartels ... rule.
I do appreciate your style of writing and find it refreshing, however, Mexico around the border towns is not the same as it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago, and anyone desiring to go there should be warned: buyer beware.
Identities, details released on youths found dead: TIJUANA – Five young victims found dead off a rural road Tuesday included a 14-year-old girl and two brothers ages 16 and 17, the Baja California Attorney General's Office reported yesterday.
March 5 (UNION-TRIBUNE) 5 youths shot dead; gang links suspected: TIJUANA – The shooting deaths of five young people whose bodies were found yesterday off a dirt road in a rural section of Tijuana are being linked to their suspected gang involvement, authorities said.
March 5 (UNION-TRIBUNE) Cartel case papers can be shown, court says: The public has the right to see documents and transcripts relating to the secret guilty plea of a Tijuana drug kingpin, despite what prosecutors say, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.
March 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE) Shootout with federal troops leaves one dead: TIJUANA – A gunbattle between federal troops and members of a suspected kidnapping ring sent residents of a well-to-do neighborhood diving for cover late Sunday and early yesterday for about seven hours.
TIJUANA, 9:46 p.m. March 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Troops wage 5-hour gunbattle with Tijuana kidnap-ring suspects: A gunbattle between federal troops and members of a suspected kidnapping ring sent residents of a well-to-do neighborhood diving for cover late Sunday and early Monday for more than five hours.
March 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Disabled man lost on return to Mexico: The family of a disabled 77-year-old man who spent a week and a half lost in Tijuana after his arrest at the San Ysidro port of entry is wondering why U.S. immigration officials returned him to Mexico without notifying Mexican officials to receive him.
March 2 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Deported citizen suing 2 agencies: A U.S. citizen who was deported to Tijuana and spent almost three months missing in Mexico has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
March 1 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Baja officials clarify report on dead pastor: TIJUANA: A San Diego clergyman found dead inside his rented Tijuana apartment Wednesday had marijuana in his system in addition to heroin, the Baja California Attorney General's Office said last night.
MISSION VALLEY, 8:02 p.m. March 1 (UNION-TRIBUNE) Expo touts investment in Baja: Real estate sales may be lagging, and reports of violent crime have grabbed the headlines recently, but Baja California developers, tourism and government officials did their best Saturday to promote the region as an alluring place to invest in and visit.
by
Joann (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 45 comments)
on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 7:50:22 PM
I enjoyed your essay. Recently I've been seriously considering moving to Mexico or Equador - to someplace warm and relatively inexpensive. However, I want to spend some time there before I make the BIG decision. In the meantime, I read every day the writings of this or that ex-pat or long-term vacationer, to see if I ever get a sense of dislocation or regret, but haven't so far. I admired your thoughtful & respectful response to what I saw as amusing in its one-sided list of horrible things that could happen to a person in Mexico. The first thing that occurred to me, too, was that similar things happen everywhere, but the fear of such things will make us prisoners wherever we live. It made me realize that if (when) I go to Mexico or Equador to visit or to live, I will need to assume the same sense of personal safety I carry when I walk around the block here in my tiny village in southern Idaho. Thanks again for your article. Heywood Williams - heywoodlorraine.com
by
Heywood Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments)
on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 8:43:19 PM
even the fart in the bathtub? Sorry, couldn't resist. But, thank you!
Heywood, I agree with your comments. My essay isn't a promo for the Mexican Tourist Board, it was simply a description of a lovely day, my day. I'm sorry that the one reader, instead of seeing and understanding the essence of the piece, found it appropriate to list stats and promote yet more fear mongering. Haven't we had enough? Frankly, I am beyond tired of the increased xenophobia and it has nothing to do with ignoring reality.
I think most of us who travel tend to do our homework. I don't head to foreign countries on a wing and a prayer. I think it's a tad presumptuous to assume that frequent travelers would do so. I have not run into a single expat here that has any regrets leaving the States. Not one, young or old. I cannot fathom living my life in fear, based on stats, fear tactics, whatever one wishes to call them. Life is for the living, enjoying each day. If we are lucky enough to capture a day, anywhere, anyplace, that evokes such a sense of peace and joy that we go to bed at night with a smile, and wake up the same, then I count myself as one of the fortunate ones.
Thank you, Heywood. I certainly appreciate your comments and outlook on life.
by
Jan Baumgartner (49 articles, 136 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 249 comments)
on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 9:35:40 PM
Jan, what a beautiful story ! I hadn't intended to read the whole thing but once started I couldn't stop. Your story took me back to the time my wife Judy and I spent in Oaxaca, I could almost taste and smell the fresh warm bread we ate every morning. I wish I could return there with her but it's too late now, she passed on this last Sept. You're right life is too short, way too short !!
by
calwellander (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 9:49:32 PM
A WONDERFUL way to began a drech Scottish day !!! After I read this I found I had NO interest in politics and such so I sat and remembered faces and places and moments and a wonderful feeling of well being eased over me and I read no further articles. :-) "Don't tell Rob". A Lovely slice of life.
by
davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 240 comments)
on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 3:43:21 AM
I lived my childhood in Mexico, and your article moved me to tears. It's spot on. However, the "stats" are also the truth, and that is something that cannot be ignored. An American in Mexico, with a certain income, is automatically protected from the extreme poverty and the violence. Let us not forget that Mexico is ruled by an oligarchy, and that means great wealth (0h, those haciendas and manor houses in Las Lomas!) and the most abject poverty. It is not until the ruling class, backed, supported and financed by the US is thrown out, and a system of economic equality is put in, that the lovely experiences you have had can become generalized.
by
Guajolotl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 131 comments)
on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 1:48:08 PM
There is a shocking disparity between wealth and extreme poverty. The money I see here is staggering. I've witnessed, too, the abject poverty. And, I've seen it further still, in parts of Africa. As far as crime goes; I am not disputing the statistics listed above. Sadly, violence is everywhere. And I stand by my point that the U.S. is perhaps one of the most violent countries and cultures in the world. One must look at the complete picture.
What it boils down to is choice. One must weigh and measure the facts, risks, and opportunities for a happy life wherever they go. It's the luck of the draw - we cannot and never will be able to fully control our fate.
by
Jan Baumgartner (49 articles, 136 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 249 comments)
on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 6:38:47 PM
Three of my girlfriends passed through the veil to their next adventure recently: one today, one yesterday and one last week ... and i was feeling a bit "off" as i sort of mindlessly scanned the site - when i found your article i knew i needed to look no further. thanks for such delicious words ... i felt the sun on my skin, the taste of a perfect avocado, and you made me laugh out loud several times! I needed that! thanks!
by
Meryl Ann Butler (43 articles, 41 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 343 comments)
on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 3:01:51 AM
Three of my girlfriends passed through the veil to their next adventure recently: one today, one yesterday and one last week ... and i was feeling a bit "off" as i sort of mindlessly scanned the site - when i found your article i knew i needed to look no further. thanks for such delicious words ... i felt the sun on my skin, the taste of a perfect avocado, and you made me laugh out loud several times! I needed that! thanks! (and i read no further, either, LOL, we gotta keep this from Rob!)
by
Meryl Ann Butler (43 articles, 41 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 343 comments)
on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 3:03:27 AM
