Back in the Saddle Again

I have returned to Houston. Am teaching like a madwoman – putting to use all the things I’ve learned on my trip. It makes a difference – I am so much more confident and comfortable up on the podium. I’m able to give people with bad knees guidance so they won’t hurt themselves, I understand the poses better and I know the dialogue more and more and more. I just LOVE this path!!!!!

But here’s the real reason I’m back in Houston:

A few years ago, when I was in the total dumps feeling sorry for myself and rather hopeless about a future partner, I went to Safeway. As I was checking out with my single person's basket, the checker, a rastafarian guy with dreads, asked me if I had found everything I needed. I looked in the basket and told him, "well, all the food I need is in there, but there's no man in that basket!" He replied, "Don't worry, he's on his way." I looked up, a bit shocked and said, "Excuse me?" He again said, "He's on his way, custom made, just for you." I almost burst into tears and said, "I've waited so long!" And again he said, "Don't worry, he is coming, custom made, just for you." I held on to those words, and after a while, really started to believe it.

He's here.

His name is Bill. I was introduced to him in July when I was in Houston. Cheryl, a teacher at the Houston studio insisted that I meet him, but by the time I had agreed, he had already left for work. Bill does accounting for an oil company and works 30 days in Algeria , and then has 30 days off. I gave Cheryl my email address and my blog address, and Bill started to email. We kept up a correspondence, and then talked on the phone when he got back to Houston and I was in Massachusetts . He made a quick trip home last month to attend his mom's funeral in Kansas, and we spoke even more. And when I returned to Houston , we actually got to meet in person. And all I could say was WOW. He has a killer smile and eyes that light up a room. He is intelligent, articulate, interested in a variety of things, likes good wine and does the yoga. He's an adult.

I feel very different this time. I'm not jumping up and down excited, there aren't chills all over my body (well, most of the time) and I'm not super giddy. I just kind of know that this is the right one, so I'm going with the flow of it - not pushing one way or another. It feels so right.

So Bill is going to come to California after Thanksgiving. We are going to make a tour of Northern California. He'll fly into San Francisco , and then we'll head up to Marin and into the wine country (he's a big fan of french wine, and I'd like to introduce him to some good California reds), then on to Sacramento, up to Grass Valley to see one of his sons who lives there and then down hwy 49 to Yosemite . I wanted him to come to the Bracebridge dinner, but he'll have to return to Houston and get back to Africa before the dinners start. That will have to be something to look forward to.

After the priest gave my mom last rites at the hospital before she died, I asked her to do me a favor. In her typical crusty New England style, she said, "WHAT." I asked her that when she was out of pain and floating around checking up on us, to help me find my man. The right guy. She looked at me in the eye and said, "Lucille, your father's already working on that." Very UNtypical response, and one that shook me to the core. Those were her lasts words to me. But I think together my mom and dad have come through and although I had to drive all over the friggin U.S. to find him, he's finally here, custom made, just for me.