One thing that consoles me about getting older is that I have gathered wisdom with my age or at least I hope so!  Like all of us, years of situations and relationships have been great learning experiences and these learning experiences I take into my next situations or relationships.  We learn and gather information and then we try to keep only what is valuable and useful.  That is wisdom to me.  I also have learned that the only sure thing is that NOTHING IS FOR SURE!  Just when you think that the planets are aligning for you and things are going your way, you can blink your eyes and POOF! It all changes!  But the same happens when you think everything is NOT going your way. You might think that everything is going to hell and yet some miracle suddenly happens!

I have been thinking about how this goes for our romantic relationships, too!  Being in a relationship is like playing Russian Roulette.  You can put all your chips on one number and color and you see the ball bouncing around as the roulette spins. There it goes spinning fast.  You can’t really see the numbers but you do see the white ball moving from black to red from 10 to 4 to 16 until finally it stops on a totally different number and totally different color than you chose.  You lose all your chips.  If you are lucky, you are left with one last lucky chip. You feel miserable, lost and a loser. You put that single chip on a random number.  You feel hopeless.  And suddenly, VOILA!!!! You win and the house pays double and you start winning again!!

I love my life and I love my work.   My store gives me the opportunity to talk to so many people. I enjoy talking with couples and asking them how many years they have been married and, of course, I get all different numbers as you can imagine from 1 to 60. I like to ask these couples to reveal the recipe for a long and successful marriage.  You should see the facial expressions I get!  You would think that I am asking them what is going to be the next winning lottery number!

My personal theory about a good relationship is willingness. To me WILLINGNESS encompasses so much; willingness to be patient, willingness to forgive, willingness to be selfless etc. . . . Of course, I hear all the expected answers from couples: good communication, tolerance, open mindedness. We all know this.  However, I think there are a lot of other LOGICAL things that make for successful marriages or partnerships.  Here’s a list!

  1. Having your own bathrooms.
  2. Spending time and engaging with the other’s family.
  3. Enjoying the same restaurants or foods at home.
  4. Loving the same pet.
  5. Having an affinity for the other’s hygiene habits (or non-habits)!
  6. Equally seeing the importance of staying attractive for one another.
  7. Allowing the other to drive in peace with no passenger commentary!
  8. Happily participating in parties or movies or anything the other likes to do (even though the other one doesn’t particularly enjoy it)!
  9. Decide that if politics are discussed, make sure you are on the same page. Otherwise, don’t talk politics.
  10. Having the same moral values.
  11. Biting your tongue when your partner contradicts you in front of your kids.
  12. If one of you needs to talk, let that person talk even if you are fake listening for hours!
  13. If you are a shoe lover, always have enthusiasm for every new pair your partner brings home!

The list can go on and on. Will you help me to increase it?  Write me and let me know what yours are.

Phewww!!!!!

Finally, the holidays are over!  Ummm, yea. It has taken me all of this time to finally have all the holiday paraphernalia boxed up and put away in storage!

Speaking for myself, the holidays went by happily and smoothly. No drama, no fights, no uncomfortable dinner . . . well just “poquito.” I did not have issues this year with any immediate family, ex-girlfriends, ex-boyfriends or any ex-in laws, and let’s not forget business related exes!   But I definitely can’t say the same for what I have observed with other people. Every year it is the same.  Holidays seem to bring out the worst in people and relationships.

My mother always said, “How can we expect peace in this world if we can’t have peace in our own families?”  I have to admit that there is much truth in her wise words. When I ask other people how the holidays went for them, they roll their eyes and say things like, “I wanted to kill my sister the entire time” or “My mother was very difficult!” or “One more day of holidays and I would have had to be placed in a mental hospital!” And, of course, I heard multiple times,  “I am glad the holidays are over!”

It’s true that familial relationships are hard.  Sometimes our friends are closer to us than our own siblings.  We can find understanding, compassion and simple friendship in others before we find it in our families so it seems.   The stories I hear about people’s in-laws are mild compared to the stories written by Stephen King!  As human beings we are such unnecessarily complicated creatures!  Most of the time we make our own situations worse than they need to be. We hold grudges from years and years ago and around Christmas times these grudges all take a bigger shape that looms over us and clouding up the festivities.  They are hidden scars, deep inside our brains and hearts and they keep us from enjoying ourselves. They leave us emotionally exhausted and we wonder what the hell is happening!

The great irony is that ultimately we all want the same things:  to enjoy ourselves, each other, to have and to be enough.

The Universe chose that I be raised in a country, city, school and family that was very Catholic.  My Christmas memories are actually very joyful ones. I remember the big nativity that we would put up in our home. I would envision what it would have been like during the time that Christ was born. I remember the grandiose and moving  Christmas Mass at Church. My school used to put up “Posadas” various nights in December. It was so festive!

But, it is not fair for me to compare those memories with what my eyes witness now as an adult.  Adulthood changes everything.  We become involved in the conflicts and the tensions.  As a kid, you are oblivious to this. As adults, we have the pressure of being responsible for the presents, holiday dinners and decorations. We have to make a decision if we are going to do the Canyon Rd walk or not?Or just the lights on the Plaza or dinner first?  Or dinner after?  Should we go to midnight mass? No time? Where should we open presents?  In the car in between one dinner and another?!  It’s too cold out to walk. I don’t have the right shoes like you but I am hungry!!!!! ARGH!

Just for a minute let’s forget about all of the holiday issues.  Close your eyes and remove the holiday parties. Remove the conflicts. Remove the pressure to buy gifts. Remove any decorative decision making…..….We are 11 months from the next Christmas. Dowe want to change any of these things? You know what?!  I don’t think so!  It wouldn’t be the Holidays if we didn’t have all that.  It is what is!  Just embrace and enjoy!

I can still hear him loud and clear.

My father was well known for using this expression, “El hubiera no existe.”  Basically, it translates to more or less:  forget about the “what-ifs” or the “should’ves” because they don’t exist.  He used to get aggravated if any of us seven kids would whine saying “I should’ve done THIS” or “I should have done THAT!!”

This year, on the night of the 24th during the Farrolito Walk on Canyon Road, I had a moment I keep going back to with the “I should’ve…”.  Everyone was in the holiday spirit. The weather was beautiful – not too cold but with enough of a chilly bite in the air so that it felt like Christmas.  The merry spirit of Noel with the “I love you’s, you love me’s, let’s be cheery was in the air floating through the sculptures of Canyon Rd. While we were strolling with a group of friends, I saw out of the corner of my eye a stalled couple.  It was hard to discern what was happening but it appeared that she was fainting. Like the Good Samaritan I think I am, I rushed over to see how I could help them.  The man had managed to get her to sit on the cold sidewalk and was hovering over her.  I asked him what was wrong and how I could help.  He was curt with me and answered back that there were too many people and that she was confused.  I immediately felt this need to leave them alone and give them some privacy.  Strangely enough I turned around and walked away from the couple.

I re-joined my friends who were enjoying the evening so that we could continue walking through Canyon Road. We were quickly submerged into the crowd and I no longer could see the couple.

My reaction has been haunting me since then!  What was I thinking?  What happened to the woman?  Was she okay?  Did they really need help but were too shy to ask for it?  Why did I leave?! I SHOULD have stayed. I SHOULD have tried to help him. I SHOULD have found someone else to help if they didn’t want my help. I SHOULD’VE, I SHOULD’VE , I SHOULD’VE!  But it’s too late.  Like my father used to say, “El hubiera no existe.”  Although it makes sense – I shouldn’t dwell.  It’s over.  It’s past. I still feel guilty. My father would not have been proud of me. In my head I explain to my dad, “I’m sorry. I’m generally more assertive!” Something did lead me to believe that the woman needed privacy.

This year I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolutions. No diets. No exotic trips. No “re”designing myself.  However, after my encounter on Canyon Road, I do have one focus for the year 2018: I AM GOING TO TRY TO LIVE MY LIFE WITHOUT ANY “I SHOULD’VES.” This year will be about action and no regret.  Let’s do it!

 

I would love to hear from you….write me at guada755@outlook.comt

It is 5:45pm and it is time for me to meet one of my good friends. We are going to have a cocktail, catch up on our lives and talk about politics, fashion, men, fashion, men, politics, men, fashion, men, men and men. We are meeting at one of my favorite places. I have a few. I apply my lipstick, brush my pony tail, click my shoes and get in my car. As I get to the place, I notice the street is empty. The town is empty like a ghost town from a Western movie. There are no people or cars around and it feels chilly out. I hesitate a minute and then park my car in a Loading Zone but I figure it is not being used since it is almost 6pm. I go in to meet my friend.

After a couple of hours, we kiss goodbye and I walk back to my car. And there it is!!!!! It is on the windshield of my car bright yellow and shining like Christmas lights . . . a F&$@%# parking ticket! When I see the $42 Loading Zone parking ticket, I think I literally screamed in my mind like Tarzan in the Jungle!! I thought what the #%$&!!! I wish I could have seen the person who wrote the ticket. I could have made Sushi out of him!

I do not know what it is about parking tickets but I hate them! I know, I know . . . I was too lazy to drive half a block more to avoid parking in a Loading Zone but I felt like nobody was around. It was late. It was 5:45pm for Christ’s sake! Where do these creatures come from that they suddenly come out of the shadows to write parking tickets? Are they skinny things hiding behind light poles and street signs? I did not see anyone but then boom. They come out of nowhere and write parking tickets.

If I ever have time in my busy schedule, I would like to write the Mayor and City Council to ask, “What are you guys doing to us!? Why are you making it so difficult and expensive in this place to find parking?” I know the city gets revenue from the parking meters. If I am correct, it is $1 million. (Do not quote me!!) I think if they made parking easier, people would come downtown more. The retail stores and restaurants would do more business if people did not have to go to so much trouble and expense to park. You do not have to be Einstein to know the tax revenue generated from more business would exceed the money from the parking meters!

There is something psychological about paying for parking that we do not like. Here we are going to a restaurant not wanting to pay $2/hr. for parking when our restaurant bill will be $50 or $60. Why do we dislike it so much? It is not exactly dislike. We hate so much to pay for parking?!!

I do not know why but I know I am not alone in this. We know you hate to pay for parking, too. So here at Goler when you come to shop with us, WE will PAY for your parking in the La Casa Sena lot behind the store.

Larry, the owner of Design Warehouse, on his own time goes around collecting money from the local stores so that for the two weeks before Christmas, parking is free for you. (Thank you, Larry, for all your hard work!)

I think I am going to therapy about this. In the meanwhile, Happy Holidays and come to Goler! We will pay for your parking with a purchase . . . anytime of the year.

If you live in this country, you have probably noticed the latest scandal about the movie producer Harvey Weinstein. A slew of actresses have stood up to him and now he’s involved in a whirl of sexual misconduct allegations.  Finally, right?!!  I have been asking myself, why now though?!  Everyone is reacting differently than other times- paying attention now.  But men using their power over women, in a sexual way, has been happening since the beginning of mankind.

When I was a young teenager I was going to school at night.  In order to pay for my schooling, I worked as a receptionist at a local car dealership.  I was quite proud to be paying for my own schooling.   My boss at the time, was a very powerful man in the car industry.  He would often make passes at me while I was simply doing my job as a receptionist- with no pressing aspirations to be the top receptionist (!!).  I didn’t particularly humor his attention- I neither engaged in it, nor did I get overly offended about it.  One thing that is not talked about is that women are SO OFTEN exposed to being objectified that it blurs into normality.  We often just shrug it off.

But men who behave this way _ it should be noted that NOT all men do this- don’t realize how we women see them.  I was sooooo young and he looked like a very old and decrepit man to me. I didn’t find him the least bit attractive but I’m sure he thought his money made him look like Brad Pitt! After several passes I did start to get creeped out to the point that one day I decided not to go back to work.

I have to confess something however.  This was back in the 70’s when mini skirts were all the rage and part of every woman’s wardrobe.  I wonder if I was too exposed?  Did I offer opportunity to be oogled, touched, and spoken to with “intention.”  This bothers me and yet I am judgmental about it myself.   Why can we not be sexualized… or on the other hand, why can we not enjoy our physicality without drawing negative sexual attention?  The 70’s was before the concept of “slut shamming” had even been brought to light.  For years I lived wondering if I set myself up for these unprofessional advances.  But really, should we women dress like nuns in order to be taken seriously or to protect ourselves from unwanted attention?  Come on.

If you truly got to know me you would see that I often make light of serious matters.  I think humor is a great way for us to get ideas across to ourselves or to others.  So let’s turn the tables here for a second!  Imagine that the fashion now for men was similar to the 1700’s when men would wear snug fitting tights that exposed all their jewels.  Am I allowed to say that?!  As a woman, would you not be able to help yourself from staring at them?  Would you whistle, or say something playful about their looks?  Imagine my customers calling my sales guys “darling” or “babe”!  Or maybe I have a male customer walk in wearing a Roman outfit, legs exposed, donning gladiator sandals and my sales girls would lasciviously try to sell him some shoes while her eyes traveled to every inch of his muscles.

That’s what it’s like!!!

Or alternately- women get pressured into sexual situations in order to gain favor for a job or a position, but then there are the women who are not “attractive” or “older” and are given NO opportunity based on their looks.  This is infuriating.

But I like to think that today is different from yesterday since women, we can speak out against this kind of behavior.  This doesn’t mean that anything changes or that anything will be done about it.  At the very least, we can stand our ground.  If it has to be a recognized, accomplished actress to speak out to make people take notice- so be it.  At least the media has found it interesting enough (for their ratings) that the attention gives us some combined power,  #MeToo!

I also think that times have changed because I know many men who do not fall into objectifying women.  I know men that take women seriously- in all ways.  They honor their femininity and they honor their intellectual equality and capacity.  I’m sure you know some of these men too.

I know this is a touchy subject, but I am sure everyone- men and women, are taking a moment to reassess certain behavior thanks to Harvey Weinsteins’s transgressions.

I’ll close this Pandora box for now and go open some shoe boxes!!

Share your thoughts with me at guadalupegoler755@gmail.com or visit my blog at j4kicks.com and please leave a comment.

Guadalupe Goler

Do you remember watching the movie Rocky? It is the movie that made Sylvester Stallone famous!  I can’t even imagine you have not seen it but in case you are not familiar with it,  it is an epic film about a determined boxer who has all odds against him. Believe it or not, I watched it when it was released on the big screen in 1976!

In the movie Rocky gets brutally beaten up by his opponent.  The film goes into slow motion during these clips so you can really experience his suffering at each blow.  For every punch the entire theatre would gasp! We would hold our breath until after a struggle, he would rise to his feet determined to stay in the fight.  They would show him with puffy black eyes and blood and sweat trickling down the side of his jaw.  Actually, Rocky would look a lot like Jesus Christ during the Passion beaten by the Romans exxcept Rocky’s lips would be so swollen that they looked like Kardashian lips!

The world today is like Rocky. We are being punched with hurricanes, shootings, earthquakes, fires and the threat of a nuclear war!  With every punch the whole world gasps in unison. We are being beaten up with a whirlwind of natural disaster and human decision making punches!  We feel like we are never going to get up again. Are we going into an apocalypse?!!  My mind will go there if I allow it.

A few weeks ago, I went to visit Marfa, TX.  This art pilgrimage has been on my bucket list.  I decided not to wait around and see if someone would read my mind and take me so I made the plan to go with my honey myself.  I love road trips. Road trips serve at least to remind us how vast this country really is.  We are tricked through our connection lines, cell phones, the internet, etc. . . . to believe we are all near one another but there is vastness between us, too.

As we got closer to Marfa we were taken by surprise by a heavy rain storm.  Visibility was ZERO!!!!!! The rain was hitting our car so hard plus it was pitch black outside.  We . . . ok . . . I was very scared.  I thought about the recent hurricanes and images of the people experiencing them rushed through my mind.  Here I was comfortable in my car but still scared.  Yet, I did not have to worry about real flooding, whether my house was going to be lost, the loss of all my belongings, being in danger.   We held our breath through the rainstorm. There was no option to turn around but as fast as it dropped, it stopped.

We arrived to famous Marfa and it was dark and calm. I don’t know what surprised me more: that the town was so small or that our room did not have a shower or a bathroom!  Without realizing it I chose a hotel that was built of Air Streams (Oh My God!)!!   I chose the hotel because the name was appealing to me (presentation is everything).  The Air Stream we stayed in was not what I would call roughing it but it did not have a bathroom or a shower!! Showering outside felt like being in the army.  I could not complain though.  The bathroom was a luxurious outhouse!  Believe me, this experience was not cheap! My luggage that contained my clothes and shoes (Hello!! What do you expect!?) took up half of the air stream!

I was feeling guilty about taking this little trip while such terrible things were happening around us but I was a good sport.  I clicked my heels and said to myself, “Let’s enjoy this adventure and we forget all of the tragedy in the world, including Las Vegas.

Marfa is pretty quiet Monday through Thursday and then it comes alive on the weekends.  They have good restaurants (three!).  Something that surprised me was that there were no televisions.  To my surprise I was completely fine without TV. We were very isolated from the news about the world.  I did not realize how good it could feel to be unplugged from the world.  We did not make a difference to the world and the world did not make a difference to us.  Life goes on despite being hit hard like Rocky with Apocalypse type punches…..

Life goes on with or without us and struggles and hardships happen.  So, from now on, I will keep traveling and fulfilling my bucket list and counting my blessings.

Share your thoughts with me at Guada755@outlook.com or visit my blog at j4kicks.com and please leave a comment.

Guadalupe Goler

“I’m so glad you’re leaving!” said the angry voice of a woman.  I was completely taken by surprise!  Was this voice directed at me?  I look up from my crouched position- I was picking up my belongings- I had just had my nails done.  Her facial expression was of pure anger! I looked around to see if anybody else was behind me- maybe she was talking to someone else?  But no, she was clearly talking to me.  All I could do was blink back at her.  I imagined her angry expression like one from my emoji keyboard.  I didn’t understand why she was so upset with me.  I realized that my naivety did not make me innocent but I couldn’t figure out why she was so angry at me.

My brain was working frantically trying to determine what my reaction should be. The room was full of people that I knew.  Should I make a scene right back at her?  Like the velocity of light, I mulled through my options.  The truth was that I didn’t want to have a verbal fight with this woman who was a perfect stranger to me.  I muttered, “Have a good day.”  I figured she clearly wasn’t having a good day.

I left the salon flabbergasted.  What did I do to aggravate her so?  The only thing I could think of was that I was talking on my cell phone in this public place.  I was definitely talking to a friend of mine but I wasn’t gloating about my sex life for Christ sake! I wondered if I should go back and tell her off, “Hey lady with the ugly shoes, you ruined my day!!!!” It’s true she had upset my day- I know I unwittingly upset hers- but I tried to remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  I kept saying this as a mantra in my mind…. but it didn’t work. I was upset and I wanted to feel the breadth of my upset-ness!

Ironically enough, the next day at about the same time, I experienced a total different situation. I was in an airplane flying to……….Mexico for, yes, ANOTHER trade show as well as to see my dear mother. I was looking through the airplane window through the layers of clouds- still disconcerted by the previous day’s encounter- when a man’s voice interrupted my mental conversation with that lady. I turn toward the voice.  It came from a good looking gentleman, probably in his 80’s.  It was a nice, calming voice. He was asking me where I was headed and it took a second for me to decide how to respond.  Should I stop thinking about that woman, or should I drop it an engage in an authentic conversation with him?  I decided to talk to him. He told me about his background, he had been a very successful business man in the film and TV industry in California. But now he is retired and has moved to San Miguel de Allende.  But instead of resting on the laurels of his successes, he was now founding shelters for children that have been sexually abused. As we talked I could feel the level of compassion he had for these innocent kids. He said to me that a lot of people go to Mexico to die but that he was to work.

The time went by pretty fast talking to this amazing human.  Before I knew it we were landing in Leon.  I was emotionally tired from the trip that he guided me through, into the lives of these kids. I looked through the window and it was raining and pitch black outside.  I felt so far from the incident from the previous day.  It seemed so irrelevant. At the terminal we said our goodbyes.  I thought to myself how lucky I was….

 

It deeply affects me when I hear about someone getting a divorce or breaking up from a long relationship.  When I hear this, I KNOW the person is going through a profound crisis.  Inevitably I go back to my own break-ups and I remember how people would talk to me.  They would look at me lovingly and sorrowfully saying, “I’m SO sorry.”  It would not be what I wanted to hear.   Instead they should have said, “Welcome to a new chapter in your life!!!”  Breakups and divorces whether romantic, work or friendship associated are always opportunities.  “What does the Universe have holding for me now?” It is helpful to remember that every relationship in our lives serves as a life lesson. Every single person who has passed through our lives has contributed to our growth.

When a relationship ends, our soul literally goes into a crisis mode. I imagine that if you were to take an X-ray of our soul when we are broken, it would be twisted and injured, swollen and hurt.  But when we are in love, I imagine that our souls undergo a similarly drastic change.  It glows.  It is warm and energetic.  Being in love is also like taking an irresistible cocktail of emotions…And I thought tequila was bad…

The Chinese character for the word CRISIS is composed by two words overlapping that describe the situation.   “In Every Crisis Lies the Seed of Opportunity.” We do feel overwhelmed and devastated with loss. The feelings that come to surface deeply hurt us. We only see the time WE have invested in this relationship but we seem to forget that our investment was done by the other party, too. The loss goes both ways.

This makes me think of an expression that I heard when I first moved here …. How does that expression go?  It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all?  Yes, that’s it. That’s very much it!

IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS EMAIL ME DIRECTLY… GUADA755@OUTLOOK.COM

I LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS

I’m not sure what’s going on in Santa Fe but… I feel there is an extraordinary amount of bad ass women that live here! It seems that all of my friends and even the women that I just meet in the shoe store, are empowered, hard working, successful, intelligent, deep thinking and feeling women! And of course they all have good taste in shoes! Is it just me that notices this phenomenon? Does Santa Fe have some powerful energetic magnet that draws incredible women here?

The drawback that I noticed about this however is that there are too many amazing women and too few men to match them in this town. You all know this too: there are way too many single women here! While we women are great at satisfying and fulfilling one another with our friendship, we need our counterparts (I.e. the opposite sex) to balance us out and to connect with. There MUST be men here who are equally as extraordinary! And I don’t mean exclusively for relationships but for true friendships as well. Gay men count for this too!

I feel like about 10 or 15 years ago, I had some incredible friendships with outstanding men here. They were deep thinking, loving, emotionally connected, and very masculine men. And no, no I’m not talking about lovers! These guys were just my friends! It was so wonderful to have them in my life, bouncing off ideas and experiences with one another. … I guess you could say they were platonic lovers, lovers of life and of exploring experiences together. . One by one they started vanishing, either they got into serious relationships or they literally just disappeared! Sadly, a couple of my closest friends passed away.

I have nostalgia for those friendships. They were very satisfying.

Where are these men? Are you at Home Depot? In the galleries? Stuck in Starbucks? Or are you off on some spiritual retreat with no return? In any case, we women miss you! Come back! We are thirsty for these friendships… there is a severe drought.

My Mother.  She’s like an illuminated two-story house glowing white, grounded on a hill on the top of my mind.

Both mi Madre and my home are clean and orderly smelling of Mexican house cleaner- do you know that smell? I love it!! Ask any Mexican. It is the coziest ever! This house of my Mother in my mind’s eye is very white; it almost glistens.  The windows are always open because it is warm outside with the curtains flowing in the soft breeze. This house has many rooms and each one is filled with light. I can always find my Mother in this house.

My Mother is 87 years old and little by little, the light in each individual room has been starting to dim as her health has also been dimming. I have witnessed her lights going out; sometimes suddenly, sometimes gradually.  When one of the lit rooms extinguishes I say to myself, “Oh no. That room doesn’t have light anymore! But this white house still glows for me; my Mother is still there for me.”  I often feel scared.  I wonder if my children, now adults, see me the same way as I see my Mother.  Am I the same strong, warm, illuminated foundation for them?  Will my lights start going out eventually?

Although my Mother is fading into the darkness of dementia and Alzheimer’s, I can still call on her and she is still thrilled to talk to me even though she does not know not how old I am, where I am or what I am doing.  She is still perfectly glowing, warm and orderly for me.  Her voice will always be my home. The front porch light still shines.

Tell me about your Mother.  Write me at

Guada755@outlook.com