I recently posted that I didn’t fly anywhere domestically or internationally for an entire year.

Unfortunately this record will not stand for much longer.

Sadly, my mother, who lives in Japan, broke her leg and will stay in the hospital and then in the rehab center for about two months. Since time doesn’t pass in a hospital, especially for older people, I will try to keep her company for a few weeks.

But I had another amazing accomplishment to be proud of in 2012:

The farthest I drove in 2012 was 64 miles!

And just one time!

And for a good cause: To share a drink with a good friend who was staying at a mutual friend’s apartment.

Actually, I don’t even know if this counts since I drove a few miles from my then office and the next day we all came to my place to spend a few days.

The farthest I’d driven up to that point was 45 miles to visit an art exhibit in a coastal town. Oops, this may not count as well, since I rode in a friend’s car.

Okay, the farthest I drove in 2012 was, therefore, 35 miles, when I was commuting to work.

Am I getting old? No, I just realized how much there is to explore within a few miles radius and how much quality time is important, especially when your companion is a lazy couch, a good book, an entertaining movie, a husband who listens to your complaints, friends who laugh with you, a blue ocean, a bluer sky and, why not, a cup of coffee and a glass of booze!

My World is Indeed a Small Place!

Life sent my best friend to the opposite side of the world. Or perhaps she was just running away. But I am of the opinion best friends shouldn’t judge each other. Or maybe they should.

We would meet whenever there was a chance, even if that happened between connecting flights. This took place for more than a decade, maybe almost two. No matter how long or how brief the meetings were we felt there was never enough time to catch up.

We would talk about everything: family, common friends, travels, books, movies, a little bit about the future, a lot about the present and a whole lot about the past that had gotten bigger every time we met.

I know my friend had been rehearsing that question for many years, just seeking courage to, one day, perhaps, ask it. It had to sound natural, spontaneous, truly en-passant, like many others before in the course of our conversations that lasted hours when the occasion allowed for it.

And I feared for the day the question would materialize and prayed that day never came. We were such close friends and there were no secrets to be shared, we knew every single detail of each other’s life. It was so strange that that question remained in such a forbidden and feared territory.

But we both knew the inevitable question would come. And then it did. With that pained expression that had never really left her face, my friend asked:

“Has he ever asked about me?”

“Just once.”

For years, I had feared the same question from HIM as well.

“When?”

“Many years ago. I can’t remember.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you were getting married.”

“Did you tell him that?”

“No.”

“What did you tell him then?”

“That you were fine.”

“Why didn’t you just say we had lost contact?”

“Because that would be another lie.”

“We are all pretty good about lies, aren’t we?”

That statement angered me. I fired:

“Speak for yourself”.

She tried to return the fire:

“Isn’t omission the same?”

A heavy and never-ending silence descended between us. This was not the tone of our friendship. She smiled and said:

“But tell me about your kids.”

I had a big accomplishment last January 1st: I completed a full year without setting foot inside an airplane!

How cool is that?

No airports, no transfers, no hotels, no taxis, no rental cars, no delays, no cancellations, no security checks, no lost luggage, no sleeping as an “L”, no weird passengers to sit next to, no stressed-out airport and airline officials, no having my back on fire and my butt getting flat…

How things change overtime! One year without flying? In a not so distant past that would have made me feel like the biggest loser in the world!

Many years ago flying to me was synonymous with professional success and the epitome of being a “citizen of the world”!

Back even more years, when I had my entry-level jobs I remember how jealous I felt of my superiors and more seniors co-workers. They got to travel to meetings and conferences and that made them look so cool.

Then there were the rich friends and acquaintances spending vacations and holidays in Disney, in Paris, in New York, in Rome! And I wondered how cool it would be to ring in a New Year in Paris or New York.

Well, thanks to a lot of hard work (and travel) I was able to start discovering the world. How cool that WAS! I was planning my next trip even before completing the previous one. Why would you visit your family when you have the whole world to explore? They can wait!

Not that I have been to that many places, but soon all the places around the world don’t look so special anymore. Certainly not as special as in the pictures, in the movies or how you pictured them.

So this year I was happy to just stay where I was. I rang in the New Year at a party TWO BLOCKS AWAY from my apartment in beautiful and WARM Miami!

As for how cool it feels to ring in a New Year in Paris? Well… Pretty COOL I guess, as Paris can be pretty cold in January.

And in New York? Well, I lived there for a couple of years and wouldn’t set foot on Times Square to see a ball DROP instead of raising up!

P.S.: Don’t get me wrong. I still want to visit many places on Earth. If only my couch wouldn’t get in my way!

Because obviously we were all sleeping during the first sunrise,

but we woke up on time to see the first sunset!

Photo:

Courtesy of my friend MV!

The whole thing about giving each other gifts during the Holidays started to feel fake to me a long time ago. In some cases I feel I was re-gifted or the sender gave me a gift to unclutter the closet. Sometimes they even smell of mold.

Okay, it is the thought that counts. Fine! There is a good reason to take the time and buy something meaningful. If you don’t have that time, just don’t buy anything and that will be perfectly fine.

Anyway, after a dozen years or so of marriage my husband and I are passed the stage of giving each other cards and presents, but sometimes we do.

This Christmas we were driving to a friend’s house for Santa’s dinner when I realized there was a red envelope sitting on the dashboard. It was not for our hosts because we already had a card for them. Jeez, I forgot to buy him a card!

I opened the card and read the lovely message. It said I was such a bright spot in his life, joy sharing and caring. Oh, I know I am! It had indeed been carefully picked.

On the inside there were two small cards: “Good for a bicycle” and “Good for a new phone”. Because my phone sucks and he thinks I need a new bike to ride along the beach. That’s our way when we do give gifts. We discuss it and then together we take the time to carefully find the right one. We don’t do returns or exchanges!

We had to stop on the way to buy a Christmas cake and that was my great opportunity to get even (did you see what I just wrote? “G-e-t e-v-e-n”! Gosh!).

I knew the parking lot would be full and my husband would have to wait in the car and drive around. I could even take longer and say there was a big line to check out. You know, everybody does last-minute shopping, including us.

I rushed to the card aisle and it looked like a hurricane had passed through. Another lady was trying to dig out something.

We looked at each other and with complicity, said, almost together: “Last minute card, huh?”

“Nothing much left, huh?”, I pointed out.

“And the few ones left are in Spanish”, she complained.

Fortunately I found a nice one. I swear that was what I would have chosen if I had more time.

It was simple and elegant and said on the outside: “For my husband. Life gives beautiful gifts – ”. And on the inside: “It gave me you. Merry Christmas.”

Then I had this brilliant idea: I bought a Powerball ticket and put it inside adding: “If $50 million is not enough you will still have ME!”

Bingo! I rushed back towards the car!

But, wait! I have to buy the cake!

I decided to give him the card after dinner, so he wouldn’t think I had bought the card at the last-minute.

The next day he asked me: “Did you buy the card at the grocery?”

And I knew he knew it…

“It’s okay”, he said. “It’s the thought that counts.”

Please forget what I wrote in the first paragraphs.

The festive season is a complicated one. We really tend to see things through a magnifying glass:

•  Your bucket list seems longer, so does your list of bills to pay;
• Countries still fight each other in meaningless wars, so do you and your spouses;
• You are hopeless because some of your dreams didn’t come true while other dreams will never come true;
• You feel ugly because your wallet got skinnier and your waistline got fatter;
• You feel old because your hairline has receded or you can’t keep up pulling out all the white hair you see in the mirror;
• You are frustrated because you didn’t get a better job or a bigger house or that limited edition Ferrari.

And the list goes on and on…

Then you get a day like yesterday: Thursday, December 27^th.

If you were in Miami and not too busy with your magnifying glass you may have noticed how gorgeous the day was. The sun was shinning, not too cold and not too hot, just nice and warm. The blue sky and the blue water of the bay were even bluer.

The beauty of Thursday transported me back many years ago. It was the holidays, just like now.

I guess back then I was too young to see the sad things in life or I just didn’t have a magnifying glass.

However, the bad things, when you are younger, are of a different nature. It normally involves romantic entanglements.

But I will spare you the details and try to be brief.

The holidays were approaching and out of the blue skies my Prince Charming becomes an ugly toad and makes me feel like a post-Halloween pumpkin.

I had the option of spending the holidays crying and facing friends and family with explanations of the inexplicable. Instead I decided to invest a month’s salary and checked in to the fanciest hotel in town.

After all the pampering available I joined the hotel’s New Year’s party. Among happy strange people, including gorgeous men, I anonymously had one of the most fun times of my life… I will spare you the PG-13 details.

The next day, January 1^st of a new year, I dreaded opening my eyes and facing reality.

But again, when you are young, fighting back also feels easier. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I had forgotten the shades open. The sun was shining. The blue sky and the blue ocean were even bluer.

How can’t life be good and the future bright when a beautiful day welcomes you?

I used to make New Year’s resolutions…

Just to forget all about them in the first hours of the coming new year.

Maybe even before the New Year started.

I even remember reading articles about SOFTWARE to help you keep track of your resolutions!

Perhaps I’ll invent an iPhone app to manage resolutions.

Well, in the past few years I have narrowed my New Year’s resolutions down to one big resolution: NO MORE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS!

Instead, I take this time of the year to check on the small changes I’ve made (without planning) to make my life better and easier. Here’s a list of some of my small accomplishments in 2012:

• I went a month without shaving my legs in the peak of summer.
• I cleaned my apartment every two weeks compared to once a week the year before.
• I bought more stuff I Iike as opposed to purchasing stuff on sale.
• I stopped picking up my husband’s underwear from the floor.
• I tried to be a better wife when I felt like it or when my husband deserved it.
• I donated all the clothes and shoes I didn’t wear this year.
• I got rid of a stack of classic books I was keeping for years knowing I’d never read them.
• I “fired” friends who keep telling me they consider themselves my best friends.
• I made new wonderful friends.
• I sorted out junk in the closet instead of in my life.
• I didn’t eat anything healthy if it didn’t taste good.
• I quit drinking many times.
• I resumed drinking many times.
• I ate expired food and I didn’t die.
• I cursed.
• I said nice words.
• I was nice to people.
• I was mean to people.
• I lied.
• I cheated (just on a few small things).
• I didn’t recycle much.
• I didn’t keep all my promises.

However, if you insist on making New Year’s resolution, here’s some advice:

Copy and paste last years’ resolutions!

Happy 2013!!!! Happy 2013!!!! Happy 2013!!!! Happy 2013!!!! Happy 2013!!!! Happy 2013!!!! Happy 2013!!!!

“The world will not end on December 21, 2012, or any day in 2012”, assures the US government in its blog.

Who’s more likely to be right, or wrong? The Mayans or the US government?

Just in case the Mayans are right, I have a mile-long bucket list to cramp in less than two weeks. Impossible task, I know. Maybe I can filter my priorities. I can try to do it in an Excel spreadsheet.

You know what? Let’s make it simple: Who can meet me at sundown on December 20th for a farewell drink?

Filling up on booze doesn’t sound like a bad idea since we don’t know how tough the journey to the “other side” will be.

Where? I’ll choose a venue and send you an e-mail. Please RSVP ASAP!

Oh, gosh! I already know what to expect:

“Sorry, I’ll be attending a seminar about the Mayan calendar.”

“Sorry, doctor said I shouldn’t drink.”

“Oh, it’s my company’s Christmas party.”

“I’ll have jury duty.”

“It’ll be raining.” (or too windy or too cold or too muggy or SNOWING!)

AND THE BEST EXCUSE:

“If you postpone it for AFTER the 21st I’ll be happy to come.”

Honestly… I also have so much work and cleaning and laundry and gift shopping and postcards to send and packages and company’s Secret Santa and blablabla before December 21st that I, myself, probably wouldn’t show up.

Frankly, my dear?

I don’t give a damn if the Mayans are right. Sorry, Rhett Butler…

I love Asian cuisine and lately I have been exploring the culinary tradition of Southeast Asia.

For my meat and potatoes kinda guy husband the weekend peregrinations through exotic eateries can be dreadful to say the least. But, what wouldn’t you do to keep your spouse happy, huh?

So there we were. At this Southeast Asian place enjoying our Sunday lunch. My husband ordered the simplest thing he could find in the menu: some beef on a bed of watercress. According to Wikipedia, watercress is the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans. Oh, yeah! Tell that to my husband.

He ate the meat and left the leaf, as he always does. ‘Greens are for rabbits, and I am not a rabbit’, he always says.

The Asian waiter comes to our table and realizes my husband has finished. He looks at his plate, stares at him, points at the greens and shouts angrily: ‘You Eat That! It’s Very Expensive!’

We are speechless because we feel he is serious.

‘Oh, of course, don’t worry! I will eat that!’, I say apologetically. And I immediately start to munch the bed of greens.

My husband rolls his eyes and I say: ‘Listen, he must be sibling number six of twelve kids, starved, and was probably your age when he first could eat watercress.’

‘Well, we almost have something in common, don’t we?’ – fires Mr. I am not a rabbit.