In My Next Life...

I sort of believe in reincarnation, that we get another chance to get it right. To avoid or correct mistakes from the last life is comforting to me, and actually explains a lot. I often think or say aloud "in my next life" when pondering the past, as a means of atonement, perhaps. It is effectively an admission of error, regret, and resolve to improve, all without the burden of fixing things in this life. Here are some "Promises To Self" for my next life:

In my next life:

• I will be born to TWO parents without too much baggage, who were themselves raised in a loving home with engaged parents, and who have a healthy, positive sense of self-worth. I believe DNA to be only 1/2 the equation. The other 1/2 is what happens after.

...nuff said

Jack and Kelly Osborne...

• I will save 10% of every dime I earn in mayonnaise jars.
• I will have lifelong girlfriends, and work hard to maintain those friendships.

My friend Kitzie

My friend Cathy, far right. I'm second from left.

Me and my friend Vick

(Sorry, Marlene, still looking for a photo of you. Will add when I find it...)

• I will choose my mate from a short list of men who were also from families like the above. Whose mother did not pick up his dirty socks for him (past the age of 5), or put her own needs/wants above those of her child. He will have been raised to be a mensch. This man will already have finished school and be gainfully employed in a stable field, OR  inherited a lucrative cattle-ranch. He will cherish me, treat me like a queen (as opposed to a princess, which smacks of Oedipalism...), and not resent or forever work to exceed my own talents/skills with lifelong one-up-manship. WHO HAS MY BACK. In turn I will cherish his every atom and honor him for the god he is. He might occasionally dress up like a pirate...

(This is NOT meant to denigrate the two husbands I've had, who together with me have abetted the production of the finest group of children/grandchildren in existence.This is a fantasy, what I wish next time.)

• I will choose a career that does not involve making life-or-death decisions, and does not consume me or follow me home at night. Maybe something to do with crafting. Welding giant yard sculptures from junkyard parts that sell for many thousands?

• Either I or my mate will have the ability to be at home with the child (yes, again only one) until said child starts school.
• My child will have lots of playmates and cousins and spend his/her childhood in joyful pursuits.

•  Daily, he/she will witness parents doing the right thing, loving each other unconditionally, paying bills on time, telling the truth,  and will grow up with the expectation that there is no other option.  
• There will be no tobacco or drugs, and minimal alcohol in my life. Or my mate's.
• I will discover Mexico earlier.

• I will be physically active, fit and strong.

• I will use moisturizer with sunscreen.
• I will go to the dentist twice annually.
• Our motor vehicles will also have regular and routine maintenance.
• I will employ a housekeeper and maintenance man/gardener.

• I will eat because I'm hungry and not to fill emotional voids. (Although bacon, shrimp, tomatoes, avocados and coconut ice cream will comprise the majority of my diet.)
• There will already have been invented an effective scorpion/snake/spider/bee/no-see-um repellent. Or vaccine.
• If I'm again nearsighted, I will have Lasik surgery early, using money from my mayonnaise jars.
• I will grow tomatoes, learn to cook, learn to swim, learn to dance, eat fruit, watch the sun rise, stay up late, and take catnaps.

Get it? Catnap...

Of all this, the part I regret the most and look forward to "fixing" in My Next Life is the girlfriends part. I'm loving my new Gringas Viejas life here in Kino Bay. How much more joy would there be if we had been friends from childhood?