My own personal Mayan calendar
At the start of 2012, we sat down on the screen porch in the LaLa to have our New Year’s day traditional meal of black eyed peas, potatoes with a dime hid inside, cabbage, sweets and spirits. I remember seeing the dime and making sure that I gave it to Aleida, my house cleaner who was eating with us as we had just hosted guests on our VRBO site for New Year’s eve weekend.
Instead, by a miracle, I got the dime. Yes, for the first time in cooking this meal for many decades I got the dime. I thought wow, that’s fabulous, it’s going to be a great year. I had left my job of 17 years and had started my own company and felt very optimistic.
And then, I learned that my client couldn’t work with me because I didn’t have compliance structure in place like a larger company. Luckily, I had a friend to joint venture with and so was able to continue doing my work.
Then my gorgeous thick hair fell out and I was stunned. Luckily, I found a new style, my bald head allowed me to let go of the hair obsession I had had for so long. My bald head was pretty damn good and it opened up a new perspective on beauty in general and my own.
And then, luckily I got another client, and with the two was able to earn more than the piddly severance package my company had offered that I had declined.
And then, after years, seven years, of trying to keep the dream alive of the LaLa, I came to a bold decision to sell it. And suddenly the weight of a 2150 sf house, of a dream that I had outgrown, of a time that was now out of place, luckily disintegrated.
And sadly, on the last day of the Mayan calendar, on December 21, 2012, as I sat across from my partner, I realized that love doesn’t concur all things, sometimes you have to make choices that are selfish and tough, and you have to pick up the pieces and move on with as much courage as you can muster. Luckily, you have a child that will always bind you as a family despite it being a new year.
Last night, there were more fireworks on the bayou than usual. We went to two parties and managed to get home to sit on the LaLa’s porch for the last night of this year, for my last New Year’s eve on this porch, watching the sky light up with magic and welcoming friends and neighbors from all over this wonderful neighborhood. My friend from Spain had dropped her mother’s gold ring into my drink – a custom there of bringing good luck.
Photo by Lisa Silvestri
The New Year was fast approaching and it was arriving with a cacophony of bangs and booms, and an accompaniment of rainbow colors raining down from the dark sky, then – ding dong, the New Year came and we all hugged and kissed and toasted to hope.
Today, we are making our traditional meal of black eyed peas for luck, cabbage for money, potatoes for sustenance, sweets for sweet life, bubbly for a spirited life, and the dime, the lucky dime.