Wow. There is so much going on with me right now, and it never ceases to amaze me when a particular topic or issues will start appearing in really unusual ways. I've definitely got some anger issues popping up right now. And then poetry starts popping up as a theme too. And then angry poetry starts showing up. And then messages about light and being the Light of the world start appearing. It's really rather fascinating. So I could go on and on about some of these things, but I think I'll refrain until I can put some coherent thoughts to these themes.
But I should continue on with the few Mary stories that I have left. I think this will lift my spirits today!
So after seeing her in several locations in Tomales Bay that weekend that J.R. and I were gone, I saw Mary that next Monday in a very unusual place! And I have witnesses to back me up on this one.
That Monday morning after getting back from our weekend away, I was up at 4:15 a.m. and out of my house by 5:15 a.m. to pick up coffee and meet my dad and my brother for a 6-hour drive to a funeral. And I will say, that although it was sad to be heading to a funeral, the car ride was rather funny at times, and I wouldn't trade that time with them for anything in the world!
But we arrived in Eureka a bit early and wanted to get out of the car and get a quick bite to eat and maybe a tad bit more coffee! So we started driving through Eureka to see what we could see. And all that we could see, (la la), and all that we could see (la la), was not the other side of the mountain, but the sea! And so since I was driving, we headed down towards the water and Old Downtown Eureka. And just as my brother said a bagel sounded good, we saw this on the corner in front of us.
Photo courtesy of David H. from Yelp
Bagels! So I flipped a u-ey (does anyone know how that is spelled correctly???), found a parking place and parked. We all shuffled over there rather slowly, working those kinks out of our knees and our backs after those hours in the car, but once we were in the door, heaven!!!
Now mind you, none of us were really paying attention to anything other than 1) we had found a bagel store, and 2) well, that we had found a bagel store! As we walked up, the door was covered with signs about Purim, so no reason to think anything out of the ordinary as we walked in. But holy moly when we walked in! I looked to the right at the wall, and it was covered with very cool shopping bags. But not just any kind of shopping bags! And not even Jewish bagel bags! The wall had bags with the Virgen de Guadalupe on them!
As I went slightly nuts, my dad and brother had no idea what was going on. My mom? She knew. She reads my blog. So after ordering and, of course, buying a bag, my brother asked what was up. I said, "Well, I've been having this . . ." to which my mom piped in " . . . Mary thing." (This was before I had found the new name for my Mary thing!) So I said, "Yes. I've been having this Mary thing. She just seems to be showing up in kind of strange places." And so I told them a bit about Tomales Bay. I don't think that either of them were that impressed, but I was absolutely loving it! Mary? In little ol' Eureka? In a bagel shop? Too cool! Of course, as I looked around a bit more, I realized that this was no ordinary bagel shop. If we had paid more attention as we walked into Los Bagels, we would have seen on the sign that it is a multicultural bagel bakery and cafe!
And just one more slightly lame but sort of funny thing . . . When I was leaving the house that morning, my husband asked me, "Are you going to take the camera?" I turned to him and answered a wee bit haughtily, "No! Why would I take a camera to a funeral?" In my head, my petty little self is thinking, "Du-uh!" (Two syllables needed for extra haughty emphasis!) But I tell you what, there was more than once during the trip that I uttered the words, "Damn! I wish I had my camera!" Which is why there is no picture of the cool wall of Virgen de Guadalupes and Frida Kahlos and anyone else who was up there!