I had a surprise today from an artistic friend of mine who will turn 67 2 days before I turn 60. She wanted to take me out to lunch before I went to the hospital & she need to run away from home, so to speak on it was her job which is also her passion. Like me she was born in N.O but spent the majority of her life in Northern Cal (me Southern Cali) so we are both Southern women with a West Coast groove.
Both of us return because we were compelled to to support & contribute to the 1st recovery, and now the revitalization of our beloved home with her getting her 3 years before I.
My artist friend is scattered, impulsive, moves like the wind, hard for many to "get" her ( I do).
But she is dead on as far as her passion here. So you put up with the scattering for all the other.
We went to after her driving down the street like Mr. Magoo as she wasn't sure where she wanted to dine. Like most artist self included funds are limited but you still want a good experience.
We settled to Sukho Thai restaurant on Magazine that I had been meaning to try upon my return & never could afford so I thought.
It turns out not only is the food absolutely delicious but the lunch menu is very affordable.
I had green curry with rice & chicken breast. And I am not a fan of chicken breast, but it was right on target. And I sat and listen to my friends grand plans of knocking on the door of the city Mayor to give him a peace of her mind (she, trust me cannot afford to lose any of her mind) :=) about his seemingly inability to look into the faces of people who are still displaced or struggling to re-carve a home back in the Lower 9th Ward.
I love her boldness & her passion. She has beautiful eyes and shows all the markings of her Houma Indian/African heritage. We talked about our shared history (I am Apache,French & African), about us being elder women, artists, visionaries...
It was a wonderful unexpected gift I had today. We will probably not see each other until I come and allowing for me to rest a few days. Generally we get together every couple of months although we only live 15 minutes away from one another.
Our lives are full, interesting and we are non-judgemental of one another. We are so different in appearance I am younger, taller & weigh bigger then she. She is sooo Berkeley, I'm more San Diego. She is completely gray, I am just starting to go grey, but oh hers is so striking!
Her last boyfriend decided he could not embrace her naturalness, i.e grey hair, so he left...
His loss...
Now in the middle of this I received a package from another artist friend of mine, a CARE package today filled with fabrics (we are fabric artist), a candle of my favorite scent-honeydew melon,even tissues as she knows I will cry, a "necklace" made of spools of threads, a Raggedy Ann doll, a new tissued collage ornament (one of her creations & an assortment of trinkets. Since she is out of state of course she cannot be here next week, but showed she cared in the best possible way.
Now for a shifting of paradigms. I finally sat down & looked at all my medical X-rays and Cat scans. 1st the human body is fascinating to see & it is rather intriguing seeing your "innards". While it was a WOW thing seeing how big the hernia was, but also how really small my bones are (They are healthy, I promise)
But when I saw surrounding the hernia the fat that I need to released, I did not feel badly, I felt determined. I also felt tenderness for myself & for my poor framed doing an extraordinary job of holding me up as I weighed it down.
I've said for the longest time, if we do not get rid of what' eating us, all the albeit successful weight loss one might have, it will come back to haunt you.
That is why I never use the word "loss" but release. You can use whatever you want: relinquished, vanquish, loss, but I know one thing for sure: when you lose something you will go back & find it.
Guarantee.
So while I have been working on a more healthful way of eating, I simultaneously worked on what was needed to make this successful release party, whatever length of time it took. I am not going to punish me or berate myself or torment myself in this process.
Those things never work anyway so I do not why people keep going that route instead of taking a different approach.
As I told the doctor, my family generally lives into the triple digits and I am not going to not follow that one tradition. Other things I have had to reform or reshape but I LIKE the idea of living & living well into the triple digits.
Both of us return because we were compelled to to support & contribute to the 1st recovery, and now the revitalization of our beloved home with her getting her 3 years before I.
My artist friend is scattered, impulsive, moves like the wind, hard for many to "get" her ( I do).
But she is dead on as far as her passion here. So you put up with the scattering for all the other.
We went to after her driving down the street like Mr. Magoo as she wasn't sure where she wanted to dine. Like most artist self included funds are limited but you still want a good experience.
We settled to Sukho Thai restaurant on Magazine that I had been meaning to try upon my return & never could afford so I thought.
It turns out not only is the food absolutely delicious but the lunch menu is very affordable.
I had green curry with rice & chicken breast. And I am not a fan of chicken breast, but it was right on target. And I sat and listen to my friends grand plans of knocking on the door of the city Mayor to give him a peace of her mind (she, trust me cannot afford to lose any of her mind) :=) about his seemingly inability to look into the faces of people who are still displaced or struggling to re-carve a home back in the Lower 9th Ward.
I love her boldness & her passion. She has beautiful eyes and shows all the markings of her Houma Indian/African heritage. We talked about our shared history (I am Apache,French & African), about us being elder women, artists, visionaries...
It was a wonderful unexpected gift I had today. We will probably not see each other until I come and allowing for me to rest a few days. Generally we get together every couple of months although we only live 15 minutes away from one another.
Our lives are full, interesting and we are non-judgemental of one another. We are so different in appearance I am younger, taller & weigh bigger then she. She is sooo Berkeley, I'm more San Diego. She is completely gray, I am just starting to go grey, but oh hers is so striking!
Her last boyfriend decided he could not embrace her naturalness, i.e grey hair, so he left...
His loss...
Now in the middle of this I received a package from another artist friend of mine, a CARE package today filled with fabrics (we are fabric artist), a candle of my favorite scent-honeydew melon,even tissues as she knows I will cry, a "necklace" made of spools of threads, a Raggedy Ann doll, a new tissued collage ornament (one of her creations & an assortment of trinkets. Since she is out of state of course she cannot be here next week, but showed she cared in the best possible way.
Now for a shifting of paradigms. I finally sat down & looked at all my medical X-rays and Cat scans. 1st the human body is fascinating to see & it is rather intriguing seeing your "innards". While it was a WOW thing seeing how big the hernia was, but also how really small my bones are (They are healthy, I promise)
But when I saw surrounding the hernia the fat that I need to released, I did not feel badly, I felt determined. I also felt tenderness for myself & for my poor framed doing an extraordinary job of holding me up as I weighed it down.
I've said for the longest time, if we do not get rid of what' eating us, all the albeit successful weight loss one might have, it will come back to haunt you.
That is why I never use the word "loss" but release. You can use whatever you want: relinquished, vanquish, loss, but I know one thing for sure: when you lose something you will go back & find it.
Guarantee.
So while I have been working on a more healthful way of eating, I simultaneously worked on what was needed to make this successful release party, whatever length of time it took. I am not going to punish me or berate myself or torment myself in this process.
Those things never work anyway so I do not why people keep going that route instead of taking a different approach.
As I told the doctor, my family generally lives into the triple digits and I am not going to not follow that one tradition. Other things I have had to reform or reshape but I LIKE the idea of living & living well into the triple digits.
So all in all, an unexpected but a delightful way to spend a day, breaking bread & musing...
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