To The Beat of My Own Drum

A Celebration Letter - written next year (around this time)
Last blog entry was me 20 years from now.
This blog entry is one year from now.
A mini-step towards that big dream.

Dear Family, 

The year 2020 is over and I am in awe of how fast it went, how exciting it was.

I started slowly. I had to remind impatient-me that I step at the beat of my own drum. In retrospect, "slow" is a judgment word I can skip. So let's rephrase: I began the year with my usual tropical rhythm. That's better! I like it, "lenta ma inesorabile"

I was each day more mindful as I reflected daily on them. How is it that everything I embark on is a joy to me? Every letter I write, every step I take, even when it’s a bit uncomfortable I'm having fun. As I told my mom: I’m definitely “una gozona”

* * * 

There were times at work when I’d propose a product to a client and I'd be afraid they may reject it, maybe it was pricey to them. I was often stuck on this, my weak point, until I learned to snap out of it and use my Queen archetype. I knew my product, I had been there, done that and I created the value for them to take advantage of. The price is mine to set. My job is to find one who values it.

After I got over this hump everything started flowing easier.  

I took small steps, skipping assumptions that sabotage my work. After much experimenting, I hit it right on the dot, with the right combination of product value, satisfaction, and price. I must say I have grown a lot this year.

Today I have an LLC, which in the past I shied away from. I exchanged “play-safe, stay small” with “take small risks and make it big”. I created consumer's interest in the first half of the year, renewed, calibrated, re-tried and in July I launched a full product line for the school year 2020-21. I even got some interest from some investors. The product/service seems a no brainer money-maker. It is the right fit for many people. I can see how this business will grow.

Still, I will be waiting to see how I get repeat customers and make sure this is not a one-time thing before I jump into expansion. At the end of 2021, when lots of clients have used it for a year, re-subscribed and given me good reviews, I’ll know I’m truly on the right track. 

Doing business I reflected on my family values. Although my father and my uncle never ever allowed us to enter the business field I know one thing that made them successful. Their growth was slow and steady, always innovating where there was a challenge or a special need. Their signature was to build a solid foundation. I value this. I am very proud of my incipient business. It was created with a new mindset, the mindset of prosperity, determination to succeed and full self-expression. 

* * *

It was helpful to do mental exercises of looking at the future and to write letters such as this, of a future celebration of the past year. Which brings me closer to believing in magic. The magic that you create from your own being.

* * * 

On the film front, I have traveled and met some people that are joining the movement of making the film. I am not alone anymore. There is a team of three very committed individuals who have joined me in the making. We created a non-profit where we deposit funds, we are all continuously searching for these to film the next chapter, Joropo Oriental. We are refining the process so it doesn’t become too overwhelming, like doing the whole country film all at once. Either way, this is a work in progress and it is progressing. Yay!

* * *

I stuck to my goal of each year, spending quality time with each of my kids. One week in Portugal with Renie Joie, Avery and Felix and Didi. One long weekend in San Francisco with Rydr and Indiana while Maura and Skylr took a little time off. And as a bonus, the whole family went to Florida during the summer. 

Renie Joie and I have been working together all this year. What started as her being my “accountability partner” has developed into some deep diving into our patterns and mutual therapy to clean up our minds and bodies from things we carry from our ancestors. It has been literally a trip!

* * * 

As for all the writing I’ve been doing, you can blame Tal. I have worked for a whole year with him. He has been a source of much reflection as I move on. At the same time, he is a good nudge in times of vacillation. He has been a motor and support, always steady and especially helpful through the times when I fear or doubt. He deeply encourages me. 

I’m so happy how this year went. 

How much more joy could I possibly have? 

Veinte Años No Es Nada - Twenty Years Is Nothing

Playa Paraíso in Edo. Vargas, Venezuela

Playa Paraíso, January 2040

I’m 78, Mami is 98.

She is alive and healthy, still gardening.

I am alive and healthy. Somewhat slower. I think.

We have a comfortable home perched on a hill in the tropical rainforest in Venezuela. You drive up a steep dirt road lined up with dark leaf fruit trees heavy with mangoes and avocados and frilly climbers with passion fruit flowers. Nicomedes lifts his head from pruning a tree and standing, with a machete in hand, he unveils a warm smile and welcomes you. (My Fantasy Island-type arrival*) 

You reach the main house, step onto an open mahogany platform under a palm roof with an astounding view of the Caribbean Sea and the Cordillera de La Costa sinking into it. Oh beautiful paradise, never ceases to surprise me. The columns of the main room are farmed from local trees, but the shape of the house reveals we are not local. There is a hammock and a chaise lounge, a mix of criollo and European, just like my parents. The common areas have an artistic feel, yet it's simple living. It's eclectic and dotted with treasures. It is clean. It smells fresh. On a pedestal, inside a coconut vase, there is a rare orchid, a precious gift from my friend Beatriz.

"Hasta Aquí Me Trajo El Río"*** is an expansive terrain with a scatter of small unique buildings, each for a guest or a resident. (my tropical version of Jazz Camp in Pescadero, CA) The casa grande's personality shows warmth. We live there, mi mamá y yo. Maybe mi novio y yo. Maybe a sister or two. A couple of helpers live nearby and feel like part of the family. They've been with us for a long time. For Nicomedes, the guy you met at the entrance, we are his only family. 

I made a couple movies some years ago so I'm seen as some kind of a celebrity here. It seems ages ago but, in the 20’s I traveled all over Venezuela documenting people, customs and music. Today in 2040 it has become a classic must-see for anyone interested in Venezuelan culture. I have an international business of children’s educational materials that have been so well designed that it practically runs on its own. Years ago I passed the duties of leadership to my kids. Now they're looking to retire and we are searching for someone to entrust it for posterity. Maybe Felix or Didi? Rydr or Indiana? Ideally someone in the family. 

I walk down the hill to the beach in the morning, before it gets too hot.  I swim almost every weekday. (Weekends are brimming with too many playeros.) Then I start energized with whichever project I am working on. For example, several times a week I go down to the village where I founded a school and a children's library. Ten years ago I was there every single day. We designed it and built it with the community. Today it’s theirs to enjoy and protect. Together we looked deep into their history and found an amazing character who was an admirable community service and leader and we named the school after her, Escuelita Amandita Rodriguez. We studied the species that are native to our area and we named the library after one, Biblioteca "Toma tu Mamón" (these are fictitious names,  including Nicomedes, ha ha ha, you have to remember this is a dream)

On Wednesdays, we have movie nights in town followed by an easy tertulia. We have a singing group on Thursday evenings led by a member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo who comes a few months a year. Voces de Barlovento has so excelled that we travel and perform around the world.  Once a month, on Fridays, there is a town's dance with a guest band from abroad. We could be doing Icelandic dance one day and Zydeco another. This week we have a group visiting from Ghana. In turn, the Ghanaians are learning fulia, quitiplás and sangueo, our local rhythms. 

We have acquired a reputation among artists around the world as "the" paradisiacal place to visit and/or do an internship. It really is! This month, a few young Persian poets are doing a retreat here and teaching us farsi. We are discussing Rumi, one of my favorite poets. There is always some “schooling” going on in this place.

In town, things have vastly improved from when I arrived 15 years ago. We have established regular village gatherings that are run by community leaders. Different topics are discussed, hopes and dreams and action plans for the townspeople. There is a method to bring all matters to the table in a safe environment. It is a much healthier town than when I arrived. The campaign for environmental consciousness took root and most people are involved in taking care of this little piece of paradise. The river is clean and there is no garbage along the road nor on the beaches. We have worked consistently on this front. We are proud of being the stewards of this land.

Family and friends, come to visit because our place is peaceful (or not) and a perfect getaway. It is a starting point for some excellent excursions: hikes to El Chorrerón, biking to Chirere, scuba-diving in La Cueva, surfing in any of the beaches around here.

My own getaways are a highlight of my year. I go to San Francisco to visit my home and my friends. I pick blueberries and raspberries from my garden, make sure all is in order there. I take advantage and stay for a month or two. I visit the museums, go to listen to jazz and the opera, take a drive to Yosemite or Big Sur and go for hikes, and do some wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma. Other times my getaway takes me to England or wherever my kids are stationed.

One of my fondest (and rarest) joy is when we travel together as a family to an unknown place and explore together. We recently visited Petra, in Jordan. I had always wanted to visit there and all the family was able to make it. Amazing! Usually, such wonders spark in me an inspiration to do another project. Surely I'll be looking for a rock around here to create a little Petra-type monument.  

I sing every day. I dance every week. My work is joyful. I am able to economically sustain my living with ease and I try to keep daily sustenance mostly with natural local resources: clean air and clean water from the mountain, energy from our tropical sun, veggies, and fruits from our rich soil, fish from our plentiful sea and fowl and meats from neighbors. I have access to some exquisiteses that come from afar - chestnut pureé, date-nut-almond tart, olive oil, English cheddar cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, real Pecorino, French brie, and Point Reyes Blue, Valrhona chocolate, Barolo wine, an almond croissant, a log of Marzipan Stollen-.  Just as if I was, like the Swiss Family Robinson**, stranded in an island, when someone comes with such luxuries, I feel in heaven. Life is good to me! Which makes me break out into a song: "Heaven, I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speeeeeeak!..." (like Ella Fitzgerald)

It must be noted that I copied a feature of the house of the Robinson's. I have a roof that lifts and opens "the telescope room" to the beautiful night sky. I have been learning about the stars, black holes and the past of our galaxies which makes me ponder on the meaning of life and connect with the subject of faith. (Random tangent: see the documentary “Particle Fever” and “The Queen” 3rd Season episode called Moondust which made me cry)

Not very far away I have neighbors, who also decided to move to this wild coast. They are my dear friends and we engage in conversation or play board games together, or have a cup of tea or a glass of wine. With one I may go hiking. One of them is a great cook. Another one is a very pessimistic grouch. Best of all is that we can laugh together.

My kids are assured I’m well cared for. Actually, it’s very likely that “the river will drop one child here.” I have help, family close by, good neighbors. I am 2 hours from Caracas in case a big emergency happens. 

I'm living my dream! 

Which was somewhat thought-out and put into words on January of 2020

with gratitude, 
Rennea, the elder

*filmed in Hawaii

**filmed in Tobago

***” Here Is Where the River Brought Me To”is a (dream) place in Venezuela

Note: notice the common theme: a tropical paradise

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Keep reading!

Selfie on the first minutes of 2020

San Francisco, 2020

“Sentir, 

que es un soplo la vida, 

que veinte años no es nada”

Gardel sung Le Pera’s line with contagious passion. 

I agree with them: 20 years is nothing!

I’m doing an exercise. 
Looking 20 years ahead to when I am 78, 
a moment that may be happening very soon, en un soplo, in a breath.

I remember like it was yesterday when I bought my octogenarian home, it was 83 to be precise.  La Casa Rosada is now over 100 years old and some things have not changed. The windows are still the same. The sewer pipes original and threatening to break.

And yet, twenty years is an eternity. 

A lot happened since I arrived at this house.  I have lived several lifetimes in the last 20 years! 

Just the thought that upon arrival the girls were teenagers and Skylr turned 10 in this home. Then, in a breath I became a grandmother four times; several significant relationships passed; I got married and unmarried, and I could go on and on.
Wild! 

This is the paradox of time.

Many ideas will cross my mind between now and two decades forward, and I’ll relish each of them deliciously, but in my dreams,  ocean and warmth keep recurring. It looks like looking far into the future I will have peace and love in the tropics.

So…

Let's end with Jiminy Cricket singing Pinocchio's theme. Sing with me: 

"When you wish upon a star, 

makes no difference who you are

everything your heart desires

will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams, 

no request is too extreme

when you wish upon a star

as dreamers do”

Enero 2020

My reference dream playlist is here. Click on the links on each title.

Hasta Aquí me Trajo El Río is in this area which I have always adored!

Fantasy Island was filmed in Hawaii which looks just like our central coastline

Jazz Camp has little spaces nestled under the redwood trees

Ladysmith Black Mambazo could teach us something

Swiss Family Robinson’s home has always been an amazing inspiration

Petra, a place I need to see before I die

I’m in Heaven… most of the time

Volver, 20 years is nothing

When You wish Upon A Star you make your dreams come true