Pivot???

tulips for a new season

 Spring is a time of new beginnings. Easter…flowers..ideas…It seems to me that, with each new season, it is necessary to assess both our day to day activities and our longer term plans. We need to recommit to some projects and to let some others fall away. 

This week, I read a book called The Weekend. I had heard the author, Charlotte Wood, interviewed on BBC World Book Club. If you are not familiar with the podcast, you may be interested in learning about some new books and authors. Older women, in this case the characters are in their mid-seventies, are often portrayed within the family context but in The Weekend, the author focuses on the friendship between 4 women who have led very different lives.  By this age, each woman has suffered her share of disappointments and compromises. As our paths diverge, do our friendships remain relevant?

Oaxaca Lending Library

Bloomberg.com published an article on April 11, 2024 on the resistance of Oaxaca residents to “Disneylandization”. Since I first visited 15 years ago, Oaxaca has become a victim of its own beauty and cultural richness.  Fifteen years ago, I stayed in the apartment at the Oaxaca Learning Center, a
nonprofit organization that I still support. I tutored young students in English and later my sister and I helped to support the studies of  a young Zapotec girl. Mari completed her education with great success and now is a teacher and a mother. I continue to support a children’s library and I enjoy volunteering in the 
Lending Library when I visit.  Oaxaca was very hot this year and water is scarce. I stayed in a hotel where I could shower and the floors were washed daily.  I’m not sure that travel is sustainable in these days of global warming. Do my contributions offset my footprint?

Pivot? How to change while holding true to one’s values? Understanding that there are many different understandings and experiences. My 72 years have provided me with a very privileged viewpoint. As my life progresses, changes are inevitable. I just don’t know what they are.