I'm moving back to my old neighborhood so I can be closer to my parents.
I've been a gypsy all my life, moving about in Miami-Dade countless times. Oh yeah, and then there was that surreal yet amazing three-year stint in Venezuela when I was just barely a decade old.
But fast-forward to this century. If you recall, just a few years ago I moved from Miami Beach to South Miami and then had a respite in Silver Bluff until just recently, when my parents began to require more medical attention.
When people ask me why I'm unmarried without children these days, I have a patent reply: I didn't have children; I had parents.
I skipped that "family" part of life -- went from childless single hood to caregiver in one fell swoop. But hey, isn't this "family" all the same? And aren't we supposed to grow "old" into a space of compassion and patience?
Such is caregiving: the cycle of life, come full circle.
Although I'm happy to report that I'm currently enjoying a relationship. Yes, a relationship that came just in time, completely unexpectedly, with a man whose heart is made of something even more precious than gold, something that broke the mold.
My life has been blessed by even more serendipity lately. This apartment -- the one I really wanted -- wasn't supposed to be vacant, but the previous tenant got a job in Chicago and had to bolt.
It was meant to be.
The move is a win-win. Check out my new view. I miss South Miami -- quite possibly Miami's friendliest, safest and most walkable neighborhood. It's going to be absolutely glorious when that Royal Poinciana blooms.
Once I get settled, Sex and the Beach will resume posting. I'll be writing from this room with a view, with sunshine and big blue skies, bay breezes gracing the air as the water is just about three miles away.
Virginia Woolf once wrote everyone woman needs a room of her own, but you don't want a such a reclusive space where the heart shrivels and dies, wallowing in misery. No, quite the contrary. I'll have the best of both worlds now: a "room" for me but a life embraced by love -- love that gives and receives in its many manifestations.
3 comments:
Wishing for you My Capitan, a new year,new home,new lease on life and may it be nothing short of MARVELOUS! You totally deserve it. BB2U
Maria, we all have our times and seasons. Giving back to our parents is a huge honor. I don't know if you've heard about the writer Louise Hayes, but she wrote that in some cosmic way, we choose our parents. Recently I was at a friends house, packing up some books in anticipation of her move. Among the books were many Buddhist writings, and a pamphlet about honoring our parents. It was really beautiful, saying we can never really repay them, but we must strive to honor them. Here's the tract, I think, or something similar, online: THE SUTRA ABOUT THE DEEP KINDNESS OF PARENTS
AND THE DIFFICULTY OF REPAYING IT http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/sutras/fmeznbj.html We needn't print, but if you or others are inspired, please share. It could do a world of good.
I once saw an Argentinian movie where the character finally had found a job but in Spain. Debating if he could leave her widow mother behind, of not taking care of her, of not being able to "re-pay" her, she said that sons and daughters pay their parents by existing as children and giving them a reason to live. After they grow up, they don't need to pay anything. It has already been done.
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