The Mermaid

This year my birthday fell on Easter Sunday. It brought back memories of Catholic Mass, which we attended daily at St. Hedwig's Elementary School in Toledo, Ohio. We kids got bored going to church every day, so we'd read the indexes in prayer books and find other ways to occupy our minds. I noticed then that my birthday would not fall on Easter Sunday until I was 45 years old. I could not imagine ever being 45 years old. Well, in 1998 my birthday fell on Easter. And 11 years later, on my birthday, Easter Sunday 2009, I realize I'd be quite happy celebrating my 45th birthday, but instead.....


I have learned that I like to celebrate my birthday for about a week before the actual date. I used to have panic attacks right before my birthday. I am not sure what that was about, I guess just the getting old factor and not having achieved all I want to do with my life. Now that I have accepted this aging process, I don't panic, instead I like to do things for ME....buy something I have been thinking about, go somewhere I have wanted to go, etc. I have trouble with the concept of putting ME first........but around my birthday I am pretty bold about it.


By the time my birthday arrives, I am done celebrating. The pre-birthday anxiety is gone and I can relax. Sunday I was doing just that. Relaxing in the hammock watching a little morning TV. The doorbell rang and my three women friends here, Jill, Theresa and Julia surprised me with a drop in visit. They sang to me and brought me a beautiful mermaid piñata. I have never had a piñata before. I don't plan to destroy it with a bat, instead I want to hang it on the wall.


The mermaid piñata.

Backing up a bit, on Friday Pablo and I went out to accomplish two things: obtain pool chemicals and have lunch. Everyone was out of pool chemicals, but we shopped our way through several places to find that out. I bought a jigsaw puzzle, new pants, picture frames, a raft to float in the pool, a little bambu fountain to zen up my office, another fan to keep the hot air circulating, etc. We looked for a place to have lunch all along the way. It was Good Friday and everything was closed. Everyone had gone to the beach. We then decided seafood sounded good and headed up to Progreso.


I know better than to go to Progreso on a holiday weekend. But we were just cruisin' so we went for it. It took us 20 minutes to get there, and 45 minutes to get through town traffic to Eladio's Restaurant on the waterfront.

Cars cruisin' the malecón and thousands of people enjoying the beach. (By Sunday there were over 100,000 visitors there!)

By the time we got to Eladio's, most of the lunch crowd was leaving. It was 4pm. We enjoyed a couple of tequilas, delicious fresh shrimp and octopus. It was at least 10° cooler at the beach, and we ate our lunch watching people play in the water. While at the restaurant, we bought a pile of pirated movies so we would have entertainment for the weekend. They sell movies that are currently showing at theaters, however they are pirated and you never know about the quality. Sometimes the recordings are bad, made in theaters with people's heads in the forefront, or the movies are in Russian with Spanish subtitles. But at $1.50 US each, it is worth the gamble.


On Sunday, after chatting with my visitors, Pablo got the new grill going. We decided to have carne asada and bbq'd vegetables poolside. He treated me like a queen all day. He got the fire going, seasoned and cooked the food, and brought me tequila and Coca Cola. I was in the swimming pool most of the afternoon. Pablo and I had lunch IN the pool. It was a very relaxing day. Later we watched two movies and went for a little drive around the ghost town Mérida.

All in all it was a good week and weekend. I allowed myself many liberties, including an occasional shot of tequila. This week I am seriously down to the grind, writing in the morning and working on repainting the upstairs room in the afternoon and sewing curtains in the evening. I have ten sets of curtains to make for the rooms out at the property, which should be completed this week (mañana). I have a function here on Friday. Our students are back this week, and life is back to normal.

This is the new keg style bbq. It reminds me of the giant kegger bbq we had on the sail trip from Hawaii to Samoa, Tonga and Fiji that our friend Homer made especially for the trip. We not only prepared some great meals on that grill, but we made lots of friends at anchorages. Above, I took the photo too late to show our beautiful grilled meat and veggies so all you see are a few overcooked tortillas.

Easter dinner in the pool....the only way to beat the heat.