Hola from Merida, Mexico.
Two months ago, I wrote about turning 55 and made 55 goals to try to accomplish during the year. Even then I said I probably wouldn’t do all 55 and that I might allow myself a few years to do them instead of just one year. That’s still the plan most likely, but I have knocked off 4 of them and have the chance to knock off a 5th if I really want to do it.
The first thing was to visit my other best friend in Mexico. If you’ve read my novel “Trouble on Tybee” and paid any attention to the dedication, you know that I dedicated that book to my friend, Silvia. She’s undergone a lot these past three years since her kidneys failed her and is currently on daily peritoneal dialysis which she has to do 5 times a day. I arrived in Merida, where she lives, on Sunday, and I will be here for a total of three weeks. Thus, I’ve completed the very first and most important thing that I wanted to do this year.
If you follow my author page on Facebook, you may have seen this photo, but here’s a photo of her holding the copy that I sent her last year after I completed the book.
If you’re wondering and don’t already know, Silvia was the very first exchange student I hosted. She graduated from the school where I taught in 1998. We’re only 11 years apart in age, and after her parents died in a car accident in 2000, I started coming down here and our relationship grew from me being her host mom to me being like a big sister and then into the strongest friendship I’ve ever had — besides the one I had with Amy, who passed away five years ago (and to whom I dedicated “State of Georgia . . . and Other Writings”).
The second thing on that list of 55 was to “finish and publish my next book.” I managed to get that done before coming to Mexico. The trip got delayed a bit because Silvia was in the hospital for about a week with an infection, so I managed to finalize everything on “Her Ride or Die” and get it done before coming down here. Otherwise, my initial plan had been either to try to finish it while I was here or wait until I was back home. Getting that done after all the years I worked on it off and on (six in total) was a huge relief for me. If you haven’t yet got a copy, I hope you will. When I return, I will start delivering copies to those who have requested them from me, and I will begin making appearances to promote it.
Here’s a link, though, in case you’d like to get it now: Her Ride or Die
Number 19 on my list is to sell at least 500 copies of my books, so if you buy a book, you’d be helping me get to that goal. Hint, hint. Ha ha.
Number 22 is to swim in the ocean. While I’m not all that far away from it, I don’t know if I’ll get there during this trip. Due to Silvia’s condition, she cannot immerse herself in water or be around blowing sand. I’m fine with leaving that goal until a later time, but I still have a little over 2 weeks to do it if at all possible.
Number 44 is to “go a week with no TV.” I’d be fine with going months without it actually. At home, though, my boyfriend always has it on when he’s home because he needs noise. I, on the contrary, thrive off of silence. There’s no TV in the room where I’m staying right now, and I don’t plan to be in a position during my stay here where I’ll even have a TV to watch, so in a matter of two more days I will have gone a full week with no TV. So, I’m going to check that one off the list now, too.
Number 52 is that I want to attend a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico. Half of the reason that I came to Mexico at this time of year was so that I could be here during this annual event. So far, I’ve attended a tour of the General Cemetery — the oldest in Merida — and part of the opening ceremony in a theater by the main plaza. There are many more events between now and the official days which are November 1st and 2nd, but since I have already attended two of the events, I can cross that off the list, too. I will, however, consider it more complete after seeing some of the major things that are planned beginning Friday night.
If you haven’t seen some of the photos of the cemetery that I shared on Facebook, here are a couple of my favorites.
Number 53 on the list involves me spending an entire day speaking Spanish. Yes, I’m in Mexico, but Silvia and her teenage daughter speak English very well and like to use me as an opportunity to practice their English. They don’t have many opportunities otherwise, especially her daughter. But, I have had to use it a lot already, and when we go out of the house I’m surrounded by people speaking Spanish, so I’m hearing a lot of it even if I’m not yet speaking it all the time. It doesn’t come fast to me, and if you want to speak with Mexicans, you have to be able to jump in quickly and then speak quickly, so even though I understand a lot of what I hear, I’m not quick enough to join in before the conversation has moved on — at lightning speed. However, I will try hard to make it through one day while I’m here and only speak Spanish. Or maybe an hour here and an hour there until I’ve accumulated 24 hours to equal a day! Ha ha.
Hasta luego. I’m not going to include anything else this week, but I did upload a video of me reading the “Prologue” of “Her Ride or Die” on my YouTube channel before I left home, so if you’d like to view that, here’s a link to it: Prologue on YouTube
Tammy Marshall
Please consider becoming a paying subscriber. Paying subscribers have access to things I place beyond the paywall which are usually parts of my novels or new works in progress, and they also have access to the full archive of posts.