Morning Thoughts--Manana

Saturday morning and I only know that because I have a doctor's appointment today to take out the stitches in my forehead. Otherwise, I would likely not know the day. Or the date and sometimes I even get confused about the month. (I hate admitting this, but a couple of times I didn't even know the year.) I have heard this is a symptom of Alzheimer's disease. My theory is: Retired Person's Disease. We don't need to know those things.

Our days flow one into the next, like water down a stream. We live the days as a whole instead of divided up into parts. This is much like the way the Mexicans live. I admire how they divide up their days into morning, afternoon or evening. The hour isn't so important. I don't see a lot of watches on Mexicans here.

Manana is an important word for the Mexicans. Manana means tomorrow or the morning. Manana in the Manana. Tomorrow morning. That is good enough for a time frame. But Manana can also mean next week or next month or maybe never. If a worker tells you that he is coming back Manana, don't take that too literally. Patience is an art. Go with the flow of the stream and enjoy the beautiful day while you are waiting for that elusive Manana.

When I first came to Mexico, I rented a small house close to the beach near Puerto Vallarta. The owner of the house paid a roofer in advance to fix the leaks in my roof. It was the rainy season. Then the owner left town. It rained every night. All the furniture I had was an old beat up mattress that I had borrowed from the neighbor and it was on the floor. Every morning my room was flooded with about three inches of water. So I had to take the mattress outside to dry out in the sunshine and mop up the water.

Every morning I would curse out that roofer as I woke up in the flood. I would walk to his house and beg him to fix my roof. After all, he had already been paid. He was always drunk or sleeping one off.  He always said to me, Manana.....  I took him seriously and that was another reason for my anger. He lied to me.

My neighbor who was an expat used to tell me to relax, smell the flowers, go swim in the ocean, don't get so upset. He had been living in Mexico for many years. He knew what was happening. So I would get mad at him too. How could he not understand my situation? I was feeling desperate.

Now, years later, I can laugh at my former self and my unrealistic expectations of Mexico and Mexicans. For one thing, the owner of the house who was also a Mexican should have known that you don't pay a worker in ADVANCE. You certainly don't pay a man in advance and then leave the area......

Oh well, on with my morning.....   It is good that I can finally laugh at things in the past that once irritated me or made me angry. Maybe that is one of the advantages of getting older. We can see our former selves with a sense of humor and not take ourselves so seriously. That is my hope.....