It was a schlep. sixteen hours in transit from Concord, Massachusetts, where I live, to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where I also live. Sort of.
I have a second home in this high desert town in central Mexico. Five years ago my husband and I did the classic buy-a-ruin-and-build-a-house, a la Year in Provence, or On Mexican Time, and we’ve been coming here ever since when we can manage a break from our very scheduled lives.
We chose San Miguel, not because of all the attention it seems to be getting in the New York Times as a cultural mecca. Nor because it was selected as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. We chose it because it reminded me of the neighborhood in which I grew up in Mexico City: cobblestone streets, colonial architecture, art, adventure, a community of lively expatriots. I grew up around the corner from the famous home (now museum) that Frida Kahlo shared with her husband Diego Rivera: a his-and-hers modern structure connected by a second-story bridge. In San Miguel I could recreate the vibrancy of my past without the stingy side-effects of air pollution.
Today as I sit in my San Miguel patio soaking up the sunshine that my body desperately craves, I’m aware of how my two sides are reflected and play out in my life…
The first is in our choice of hometowns: one considered the cradle of the American Revolution (of the “shot” heard round the world fame), the other, the cradle of the Mexican Revolution (triggered by a famous “shout”). Both historical landmarks; both world-class magnates for artists.
The second is the significance of November 2nd, my birthday, a big celebratory day in Mexico called “Día de los Muertos.” On this day it is believed that the veil between the spirit world and the living is at its thinnest: i.e. easy access and fun time spent with the dearly departed. Though for me now, straddling these two worlds goes with my job description.
Thus is my dual life…
The mind and the heart. The physical and the spiritual. The active and the passive. The doing and the be-ing.
Where Mexico – a big-hearted culture – awakens and nourishes my feminine side, the more cerebral New England gets me moving, makes things happen.
My yin and my yang in a nutshell. With its own connecting bridge.
I never considered Valentine’s Day as celebration for me personally, but as I sit alone in the heart of my Mexican home contemplating the symmetry of my rich life, it feels right to honor these two sides of my self; to recognize how each informs and balances the other.
So here are my wonder questions for the week:
- How would you describe the two sides of your self?
- In what ways do you honor them (or not)?
- If you higher self sent you a Valentine’s Card, what would it say?
- How would like to celebrate the balanced YOU this week?
As always, feel free to share your experiences in the comment box below!
