I found a picture of me in New Orleans from a trip I took with my cousins in January 2012. It’s a beautiful picture, but it was not a good trip. I was in a strange place in my life, surrounded by the wrong people, about to change everything, thought I didn’t know it yet. My cousins acted like brats on that trip. I returned home, which at that time was Beaumont (yikes!) and retrieved my little dog from my then bestie’s house only for her to say something horrible to me about all the decadent food I had eaten in New Orleans and how difficult it would be to work it off. Reader, I was rail thin! I could definitely accommodate some crawfish, butter, and beignets, and even if I’d been on the plumper side, so what? A gal deserves some guilt-free lagniappe, doesn’t she? And this was just one of the many many examples of how toxic that particular “friend” was.
But none of the people who were fixtures in my life back then would still be a part of my inner circle a mere year later. The following fall I rented a little place in Galveston just so I could go away on weekends and spend time surrounded by different people. I made new friends, hung out at the juice bar and farmers’ market, made art and writing priorities, learned to be more spiritual and more connected with nature and with myself. Of my old life I eventually shed everything except for the dog and two jade plants. They are sitting with me here on the porch as I write this. Both the dog and the jade plants miraculously still alive.
Last night I had a dream in which my dearly departed gave me guidance. Today I finished the little painting inspired by the New Orleans picture I started yesterday. I quite like how it turned out. That’s always important to me. When I like a painting I make I tend to have a good day.
I finished the third draft of the novel inspired by the bridesmaid my friend and I saw walking down the Strand a few months ago. It’s had several working titles so far, none of which I loved. The current one is Breakaway Bridesmaid and I think perhaps that one will stick.
