Traveling Synchronicity

This morning I was checking email and attempting to blog with the choppy wifi access I have here at the hotel. Instead of banging my head on the wall, I decided to get up up for a minute for a drink of water. When I come back to the computer I see a gorgeous familiar face I've not seen in 16 years. Debra Matos, my former roommate (and one of the few who lived to tell the tale), was standing right before me. Let's say I was way beyond ferklempt.

Of all the places I could bump into her, the Rincon Beach Resort was the last one I thought I'd find her. Debra has been living in France for all this time now and, my blog, I mean, it's just freaky that she was there hugging me after all these years. She has two lovely girls and just like with my two boys, this is also their first time in the island as 'sapient beings'.

Synchronicity. Coincidences. Karma works in mysterious ways.

What's even weirder is that a couple of days ago another former NYU friend of mine, Frances, had asked me about Debra. We were all together working on our MAs and PhDs in the 90's. Her life partner Jorge Morales is an avid blog reader and coincidentally had stumbled upon culturekitchen and thus me via The Agonist. Shout out to Sean Kelley --the network works!

So here I am in Puerto Rico and reconnecting with my peeps without really trying. I have not seen him but I did read Pedro Reina, who was a former BA classmate at NYU. The first day I got here I opened El Nuevo Día and out of it's editorial section came out his face.

I've been able to reconnect to two of the women whom I share with some intense memories pre-Mark, pre-kids, pre-blogging. I've been thinking about them constantly now for about a year; wondering how they were doing. Believe me people, if you're on my mind there is no running away. You will end up in my path and in my life.

My karma works in mysterious ways.

Neither bitch has aged a bit. I love them both but they make me look old. Although, it's funny when women friends reconnect. Doesn' matter how many years have gone by; when you see each other, it's like only a couple of days have gone by. Case in point : Debra squeals after hugging me : "Oh my god, you sprouted boobs! You still have your butt but now you have BOOBS!" I laughed because it's true. I went from a barely B cup all my life to a D cup after having Evan. I was pissed because they took a really long time to get used to. Mark, on the other hand, has never complained about it. Still, she noticed. Only women friends notice those things.

Compiments aside, I still look like a troll next to Debra --who, by the way, to all of you who've heard my story about how I met Mark on the PATH train, Debra is "the beauty queen roommate". To all my readers who've never read that story ... I'll write it sometime soon. Heh. She's the real deal as beauty queens go. No plastic surgery. No fake boobs. And the nicest most decent person you've ever met.

So what's coming out of this vacation?

I'm kicking myself for not taking pics of Frances (who, by the way, is known to the world as Profesora Edna Fernandez; though to me she'll always be appelled by her middle name). You will anyway be reading more about her. There's a story about a couple of students we had, Shaleem and Hema, which she and I have never forgotten. We were remembering them and she's asked me to write to story and I will.

We also were talking about the current situation in Puerto Rico; how so much has changed yet much more has stayed the same and well, we agreed there is no blog out there doing a real good job of blogging Puerto Rico. Well, I'm going to solve that starting this September and hopefully she and Jorge will be involved in it as "on the island" contributors. It's time for la negra to write about Puerto Rico the way nobody else would and so it will be done.

I am also going to seed a blog about food allergies. Traveling while allergic to 3 of the 4 main ingredients of EuroAmerican cuisine is not a walk on the beach; but I have found some really great alternatives to wheat, eggs and cow milk. And since we're at it, there will be material for a travel blog.

It is turning out to be an interesting vacation indeed.

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