In honor of Cinco de Mayo, the date commemorating the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862,
–my television will be tuned to Univision all day (or at least until Studly Doright comes home from work).
–I will substitute sangria for Pinot grigio with my dinner. Heck, maybe I’ll substitute it for my tea at lunch.
–I will have tacos for lunch and enchiladas for dinner with empanadas for dessert.
¡Vivé Mexíco!
¡Paz, gente! (Peace, people!)
I had a motorcycle exactly like the one pictured below back in 1977 or ’78. Even better, I was once as slender as the young woman on this DT 175 Yamaha.
Now nearly 38 years, two kids, and probably 50 pounds later I can look back on those days with great fondness, at the time though life felt very complicated.
Studly and I were learning how to be married. We were just kids, really, and pretty selfish. I was unwilling to learn the domestic arts. Studly felt like I should be able to do everything his mom did, and smile in the process.
I was ready to enjoy freedom from parental control, while Studly, raised in a very male-dominant household thought it was his duty to provide me with structure. That did not sit well with me.
We butted heads. Often. But we also had a lot going for us, not the least of which were our respective senses of humor and the commitment to making this very young marriage work. There were a lot of folks who didn’t think we’d make it, so of course we had to prove them wrong.
Not long after we married Studly went to Ronnie’s Yamaha in Dumas, Texas, and bought me a little yellow scooter called a Chappy. I rode that little scooter all over town and gained some much needed self-confidence.
After I proved I could stay up on two wheels Studly came home with a DT 175 like the one pictured above. I loved that bike. We took it to the Canadian River, just north of Amarillo, almost every weekend, and while David took on the big challenges I learned how to ride in deep sand (go fast!) and shallow water (go slow!) and on rock strewn trails (pick a line and give the bike its head!). I even ran over a couple of snakes and a good friend (sorry Patricia!)
After our kids came along I stopped riding. It just didn’t seem to be a motherly thing to do. Back then I was pretty bound by what others thought of me. Dammit. Oh, to be young again and to know what I know now!
Once our youngest graduated high school I took up riding again and wondered why on earth I hadn’t been on a bike for 18 years. There is something about having one’s own motorcycle that is both grounding and freeing, especially for a woman.
Even though I have a mega scooter now, I’d like to find an old “foo foo” bike like the DT. It wasn’t outstanding at any one aspect of riding, but good at most of them. And the memories of those early days of marriage are all wrapped up in it somehow.
I guess if there’s a take away from this post it’s that no matter at what stage of life we find ourselves we should do what makes us happy and more fulfilled. To heck with what others think.
Peace, people.
Nationwide Insurance airs a commercial in which actress Mindy Kaling comes to the conclusion that she is invisible because she feels that way much of the time.
In restaurants servers walk right by her. On the sidewalk she goes unnoticed. In the course of the advertisement Mindy embraces her invisibility and begins to take advantage of it (see photo below).
With many folks this theme won’t resonate at all, but I totally get it. I’m the woman who after being seated at a table in a cafe will eventually have to flag down a waiter, who’ll then say, “oh, I didn’t see you sitting over there.”
Hello?! I’m five feet, eight inches tall and have bright red hair. How can someone not see me?
And I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve checked in with the receptionist at the salon or the doctor’s office or the auto dealership only to sit for an hour or more before someone notices me and says, “Oh, Ms. Noyes, have you been here all this time?”
I guess I am partly responsible for my invisibility. The minute I’m seated out comes my book and the world around me disappears. Apparently, so do I.
In the Nationwide ad Mindy finally gets noticed by a bulked up basketball player when she shamelessly fondles his bicep. I wonder how long I could get away with a stunt like that if I kept my nose in a book? It might be worth a try.
Peace (and notice me) People!
Lest anyone believe me to suffer from mediocrity in all areas of my life, I took a three and one half hour nap today. Bam!
Peace, people!
With Nana Noyes
Hairspray is an inadequate substitute for antiperspirant.
Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: When was the last time you did something new? How did it feel? Would you do it again?
Arriving in
Antigua in April to
Cobblestoned streets and
Cacophonous markets.
Bargaining for woven
Goods using
Three years’ worth of
High school
Español and a few
Quetzals.
Jouncing along with
Family and
Friends in three-wheeled
Conveyances called
Tuk-Tuks.
Drinking Picosas at a
Roadside stand.
Reveling in the sight of
Volcanoes exhaling into the
Sunset.
Rising early to the melody of
Guatemalan songbirds.
Rejoicing in the marriage of
Two beautiful souls in a
Place called
Hobbitenango.
Would I visit Antigua again?
¡Sí! ¡Sí! ¡Sí!
I’ve tried everything to get rid of this allergy-sinus thing I’ve got going on:
Wine
Ice Cream Drumstick
Beer
Bread
Mexican food with jalapeños and hot salsa
Wine
Nothing has helped.
Peace, people!
Flyday, is the next best day to
Slatterday and Stunday
Before Stunday miraculously
Evolves into Stubday when
Thoughts of Glumday
Set in.
Glumday, ughday.
After Glumday
Twosday and Waddlesday
Are only slightly better, but
Slursday is close to nirvana.
TGIFlyday!
may I?
please and
thank you!
after you,
no,
after you.
excuse me
sir,
ma’am.
small words
necessary
words
now, more
than
ever.
Peace, please people!
Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Pick a letter any letter then write a story, poem, or post in which every line starts with that letter.
Don’t you know, I let Studly (aka David)
Doright decide on my letter?
Delight to
dandelions,
dolphins, and
dragons.
Drink to danger,
departures, and
dalliances.
Dance with
danger,
drama, and
destiny.
Delight to
doggies,
diamonds, and
daisies.
Do it.
Do not
Delay.
D won’t wait even one more
Day.
Praying for Eyebrowz 